. 

o~7  -/ 


,-y 


THE     LIFE    OF 
DAVID   BELASCO 


VOLUME  ONE 


THE   RECENT 
WORKS  OF  WILLIAM  WINTER 


OTHER  DAYS.  Being  Chronicles  and  Memories  of  The 
Stage  (1908). 

OLD  FRIENDS,  Being  Literary  Recollections  of  Other 
Days  (1909). 

POEMS  (Definitive  Edition— 1909). 

LIFE  AND  ABT  op  RICHARD  MANSFIELD  (Two  Vol 
umes— 1910). 

SUAKKSPBARK'S  ENGLAND  (Revised  and  Augmented— 
1910). 

GRAY  DAYS  AND  GOLD  (Revised  and  Augmented— 
1911). 

OVER  THK  BORDER  (Scotch  Companion  to  Above— 
1911). 

SHAKESPEARE  ON  THE  STAGE,— First  Series :  1911.  I. 
"  Shakespeare  Spells  Ruin."  II.  King  Richard  III. 
III.  The  Merchant  of  Venice.  IV.  Othello. 
V.  Hamlet.  VI.  Macbeth.  VII.  King  Henry  VIII. 

SHAKESFBARB  ON  THE  STAGE,— Second  Series:  1915. 
I.  Twelfth  Night.  II.  Romeo  and  Juliet.  III.  As 
You  Like  It.  IV.  King  Lear.  V.  The  Taming  of 
the  Shrew.  VI.  Julius  Caesar. 

SHAKESPEARE  ON  THE  STAGB,- Third  Series:  1916. 
I.  Cymbeline.  II.  Love's  Labor's  Lost.  III.  Corio- 
lanus.  IV.  A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream.  V. 
King  Henry  IV.,— First  and  Second  Parts.  VI.  The 
Merry  Wives  of  Windsor.  VII.  Antony  and 
Cleopatra.  VIII.  King  John. 

LIVES  OF  THB   PLAYKRS  :— I.   Tyrone  Power   (1912). 

THE  WALLET  OF  TIME,  Containing  Personal,  Biograph 
ical,  and  Critical  Reminiscence  of  the  American 
Theatre  (Two  Volumes— 1913). 

VAGRANT  MEMORIES,  Being  Further  Recollections  of 
Other  Days  (1915). 

THB  LIFB  OF  DAVID  BELASCO  (Two  Volumes— 1918). 


THE      LIFE 

OF 

\ 

DAVID     B  E  L  A  S  C  O 


BY 
W  I L  L  I A  M    W  I  N  T  E  R 

(1836-1917) 

"He,  being  d 


VOLUME  ONE 


T,    YAR 


DD3AJ33 

oA\V" 


DAVID    BELASCO 

"If  he  ccme  not,  then  the  play  is  marred!" 

-Shakespeare 


From  a  portrait   by  the  Mimes   Selby,   New   York. 
Author'*  Collection. 


THE     LIFE 

:"•'.'   '        \       OF      'i  .; 

DA VI D     BELASCO 


BY 
WILLIAM    WINTER 

(1836-1917) 

"He,  being  dead,  yet  speaketh." 


VOLUME  ONE 


NEW    YORK 

MOFFAT,    YARD    AND    COMPANY 
1918 


COPTWBHT,   1918,    BY 

JBFFERSON  WINTER 


All  HiyfUt  Setervod 


A\.J 


023 


V, 


TO 
THE    MEMORY    OF 

REINA    MARTIN    BELASCO 

This  Memoir  of  Her  Son 
DAVID   BELASCO 

Actor,  Dramatist,  and  Manager, 

Whom  She  Dearly  Loved 
And  by  Whom  She  Was  Idolized, 

Is  Reverently  Dedicated 

By  the  Stranger  Who  Has  Written  It, 

Hoping  Thereby  to  Honor  and  Commemorate 

Genius,  Courage,  Industry,  Enterprise,  and  Energy, 

Exemplified  in  a  Useful  and  Beneficent  Life, 

In  the  Service  of 

The  Theatre 


If  Heaven  to  souls  that  dwell  in  bliss  can  show 
The  fate  of  those  they  love  and  leave  behind, 

She,  in  that  Heaven,  may  be  glad  to  know 
Her  son  was  honored  with  his  human  kind. 


506882 


"Each  petty  hand 

Can  steer  a  ship  becalm'd,  but  he  that  will 
Govern  and  carry  her  to  her  ends  must  know 
His  tides,  his  currents,  how  to  shift  his  sails, 
What  she  will  bear  in  foul,  what  in  fair,  weathers, 
What  her  springs  are,  her  leaks  and  how  to  stop  9em, 
What  strands,  what  shelves,  what  rocks,  do  threaten  her, 
The  forces  and  the  nature  of  all  winds, 
Gusts,  storms,  and  tempests,  when  her  keel  ploughs  hell 
And  deck  knocks  heaven,  THEN  to  manage  her 
Becomes  the  name  and  office  of  a  Pilot!" 

BEN  JONSON,  IN  "CATILINE." 


CONTENTS 

THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO — VOLUME  ONE 

THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO  PAGE 

ANCESTRY  AND  BIRTH 1 

BOYHOOD  IN  BRITISH  COLUMBIA       ....  2 

EARLY  PROCLIVITY  FOR  THE  THEATRE     ...  6 

MEMORIES  OF  JULIA  DEAN         .        .        .        .        .  7 

REMOVAL  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO 10 

GLIMPSES  OF  BOYHOOD 12 

SCHOOL  DAYS  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO     .        .        .        .'14 

HARD  TIMES  IN  EARLY  DAYS    .        .        .        .        .  15 

THE  SENTIMENTAL  STOWAWAY 17 

A  BOHEMIAN  INTERLUDE 19 

BELASCO'S     EARLIEST     ASSOCIATIONS     WITH     THE 

THEATRE  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO  .        .        .                 .  22 

AN  EARLY  FRIEND, — W.  H.  SEDLEY-SMITH   .        .  28 

ADOPTION  OF  THE  STAGE   .        .        .        .        .        .  34 

BELASCO'S  THEATRICAL  NOVITIATE   .        .                '•  35 

A   THEATRICAL  VAGABOND 39 

EMULATION  OF  WALTER  MONTGOMERY    ...  42 

A  ROMANTIC  COURTSHIP. — MARRIAGE       .        .         .  44 
THEATRICAL  LIFE  IN  VIRGINIA  CITY  .        .                 .50 

DlON  BOUCICAULT  AND  KATHARINE  RoDGERS  .        .  52 

CONFLICTIVE  TESTIMONY    .         .        .        .       '.".* ';".'*.  53 

VARIEGATED   EXPERIENCES           .        .        .        v      : v  61 

RANDOM  RECOLLECTIONS. — 1875       .  '"••'  ;        •.  ':     .  73 

ix 


x  CONTENTS 

BALDWIN'S  ACADEMY  AND  BARRY  SULLIVAN  ^ .        . 
WITH  BOOTH  AT  THE  CALIFORNIA     . 
BELASCO  AND  "THE  EGYPTIAN  MYSTERY" 
A  REMINISCENCE  OF  HELENA  MODJESKA  . 
STROLLING  ad  interim. — BELASCO  AS  "THE  FIRST 

OLD   WOMAN"         .        .        .     y. ., 
A  SUBSTANTIAL  TRIBUTE   . 
"OLIVIA"  AND  "PROOF  POSITIVE"      .        . 
BELASCO'S  VERSION  OF  "NoT  GUILTY"     . 
WITHDRAWAL   FROM   THE   BALDWIN. — "THE   LONE 

PINE"  AND  DENMAN  THOMPSON   . 
"WITHIN  AN  INCH  OF  His  LIFE"     .... 
SALMI  MORSE'S  "PASSION  PLAY"        .... 

NOT  THE  OBERAMMERGAU  DRAMA  .... 

CONSTITUENTS  OF  MORSE'S  PLAY  .... 

As  TO  PROPRIETY 

"THE  PASSION  PLAY"  IN  NEW  YORK     . 

BELASCO'S  SERVICES  TO  MORSE'S  ENTERPRISE 
"THE   MILLIONAIRE'S  DAUGHTER"    .         .        * 
DETRACTION     OF     BELASCO. — EARLY     CALIFORNIA 

INFLUENCES     . 

BELASCO'S  REPERTORY  AS  AN  ACTOR 
BELASCO'S  "THE  STORY  OF  MY  LIFE"   . 

THE  EVIL  OF  INCOMPETENT  CRITICISM 

THE     NATURE     OF     BELASCO'S     TALENTS     AND 
SERVICES >     • ,      •  .  . .  «. 

CONCERNING  MATTERS  OF  FACT    .        .        .         , 

THE  FACTS  ABOUT  JEFFERSON'S  Rip     .        .        . 


CONTENTS  xi 

PAGE 

A  LEADING  LADY  IN  A  PET 176 

ROSE   COGHLAN   AND   "THE   MOONLIGHT   MAKEIAGE"  179 

"L'ASSOMMOIR"  AND   A   DoULE-BARRELLED   BENEFIT  183 

A  HOT  WATER  REHEARSAL 187 

THE  PLAY  OF  "CHUMS" .188 

FROM  SAN  FRANCISCO  TO  CHICAGO  ....  191 

"HEARTS  OF  OAK" 193 

FIRST  VENTURE  IN  NEW  YORK 196 

JAMES  ALFRED  HERNE 197 

ANALYSIS  OF  "HEARTS  OF  OAK"       ...        >  201 

FAILURE  AND  ITS  CONSEQUENCES      .        .        .        .  205 

SAN  FRANCISCO  AGAIN 208 

BELASCO'S  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  ADELAIDE  NEILSON   .  209 

THE  BLACK  PEARL 211 

Miss  NEILSON'S  GOOD  INFLUENCE         .        .         .213 

"PAUL  ARNIFF" 214 

WANING  FORTUNES  AT  THE  BALDWIN      .        .        .  216 

AN  OLD  ACQUAINTANCE, — JOHN  T.  MALONE  .        .  218 

"TRUE  TO  THE   CORE" 220 

A   STERLING   ACTOR   AND   AN    INTERESTING   ESTI 
MATE: — WILLIAM  E.   SHERIDAN    ....  221 
LAURA  DON. — AN  UNFULFILLED  AMBITION     .        .  225 

"LA  BELLE  RUSSE" ,230 

"THE  STR ANGLERS  OF  PARIS"  .        .        .        .        .  237 
NEW  YORK  AGAIN. — "LA  BELLE  RUSSE"  AT  WAL- 

LACK'S ,*        .        v  241 

AN  OPINION  BY  BRONSON  HOWARD. — WALLACK  IN 

THE  THIRTIETH  STREET  HOUSE   .                 .        .  244 


xii  CONTENTS 

BELASCO  AND  His  "THE  CURSE  OF  CAIN"  .       **      . 

THE  PASSING  OF  MAGUIRE  .        .        .       •.   ••'•»•;; 

BELASCO  AND  GUSTAVE  FROHMAN. — THEY  REVIVE 
"THE  OCTOROON"  .  .  ,  .  .  ,  v 

"AMERICAN  BORN"      .        ....        .  <     . 

FIRST  MEETING  WITH  CHARLES  FROHMAN      . 

EASTWARD,  Ho !   .        .        .        .        .  ^     . 

A  RETROSPECT    .        .        .        .        .        .        >  • 

A  SECOND  VENTURE  IN  CHICAGO. — THE  LAST  OF 
"AMERICAN  BORN"  .  *  .  C,  .  (  . 

THE  MADISON  SQUARE  THEATRE       *  •  •  •:,  •      *       "v 

BELASCO  AT  THE  MADISON  SQUARE  .       --\>       .        .-• 

"MAY  BLOSSOM"          .        .        .        .        .        . 

FIRST  VISIT  TO  ENGLAND. — "CALLED  BACK"     .        . 

CHANGES  AT  THE  MADISON  SQUARE  .        .        .        .r 

A  LABORIOUS  INTERLUDE. — LYCEUM  THEATRE         . 

"VALERIE"  AT  WALLACK'S  .        .        (M?     ;        .  ;      . 

MORE   ERRORS   CORRECTED        .        .      '  .        * 

AN  EXTRAORDINARY  COMPANY  AND  A  SUMMER  SEA 
SON  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO  .  .  *  . 

AFFAIRS  OF  THE  LYCEUM   .        .        ;        .  -     . 

"THE  HIGHEST  BIDDER"    .        . '      ... 

"PAWN  TICKET  210"  .        .        .  .      .        * 

"BARON  RUDOLPH"  AND  GEORGE  S.  KNIGHT  . 

"THE  WIFE"    '•;:..-' ...        ..       ,-'•     .'    ^    ^-'^ 

"A    COMMON-SENSE    HUSBAND"        .  -     .        .  '      . 

REVISION  OF  "SHE"    .         .        ».        k  <      . 

"LORD  CHUMLEY"  AND  E.  H.  SOTHERN   .        .        » 


CONTENTS  xiii 

PAGE 

"THE  KAFFIR  DIAMOND"   .        .        .        ...  345 

Louis  ALDRICH 347 

THE  SCHOOL  OF  ACTING 348  '{ 

r 

THE  TRUE  SCHOOL  Is  THE  STAGE         .        .         .  351  l 

A  REVIVAL  OF  "ELECTRA" 353 

MANY  NEW  TASKS 355 

"THE  CHARITY  BALL" 357 

MRS.  LESLIE  CARTER 361 

EPISODE  OF  "THE  PRINCE  AND  THE  PAUPER"  .         .  365 

RETIREMENT  FROM  THE  LYCEUM  THEATRE       .        .  367 

A  LONG,  LONG  ROAD 370 

CONFEDERATION  WITH  CHARLES  FROHMAN       .         .  373 

PROCTOR'S  TWENTY-THIRD  STREET  THEATRE  .         .  374 

THE  PLAY  OF  "MEN  AND  WOMEN"  ....  377 

HATCHING  "THE   UGLY  DUCKLING"        ...  383 

"THE  UGLY  DUCKLING." — MRS.  CARTER'S  DEBUT   .  385 

MORE  FAILURE,  AND  A  LAWSUIT        ....  388 

A  POVERTY-STRICKEN  STRUGGLE        ....  39& 

"Miss  HELYETT"  AND  MRS.  CARTER  ....  396 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  EMPIRE  THEATRE     ....  400 

"THE  GIRL  I  LEFT  BEHIND  ME"     ....  403 

EXCELLENCE  OF  THAT  INDIAN  DRAMA          .        .  406 

THE  VALUE  OF  SUGGESTION  IN  ART       .        .        .  417 

A  SUGGESTIVE  REMINISCENCE  OF  FRONTIER  DAYS  420 

BELASCO  AND  CHARLES  FROHMAN      ....  421 

A  CHARLES  FROHMAN  LETTER 422 

A  BAFFLED  ENTERPRISE  IN  CHICAGO      .        .         .  424 

"THE  YOUNGER  SON"  428 


xiv  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

FIGHTING  FOR  A  CHANCE  .        .        .        .        .        .  431 

STORY  AND  PRODUCTION  OF  "THE  HEART  OF  MARY 
LAND." — ITS   GREAT  SUCCESS        .        *        .        .  438 
"THE  FIRST  BORN." — A  SUCCESS  AND  A  FAILURE  .  447 
BELASCO'S     SECOND     ENGLISH     VENTURE. — "THE 

HEART  OF  MARYLAND"  IN  LONDON       .-;     j.       ..  451 

"ZAZA,"  AND  THE  ETHICAL  QUESTION       *•.      *        »  456 

PRODUCTION,  AND  CONTENTS,  OF  "ZAZA"  .       v        „  461 

MRS.  CARTER'S  IMPERSONATION  OF  ZAZA      ;»»       .  464 

DEATH  OF  BELASCO'S  MOTHER. — "CAN  THE  DEAD 

COME  BACK?" — A  STRANGE  EXPERIENCE    .        .  466 

BLANCHE  BATES  AND  "NAUGHTY  ANTHONY"  .        .  469 

"MADAME   BUTTERFLY"      ,  .    , .  ,      .        .        *  ,      .  476 

"ZAZA"  ABROAD  .        .,       ...        .        .  ,     .        .        .  484 

VIEWS  OF  THE  FRENCH  DRAMATISTS  .        .        •  -    ..  .  485 
"WITH  SPEED  FOR  ENGLAND." — ANOTHER  SUCCESS 

IN  LONDON     , .,       .  486 

PUCCINI  AND  BELASCO        .        .        .        .        .„      .  488 

"MADAME    BUTTERFLY"    AS    AN    OPERA. — A    PRO 
POSAL  BY  LADY  VALERIE  MEUX       .         ....       .  489 

INDEX  497 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

VOLUME  ONE. 

In  Photogravure. 
David  Belasco Frontispiece 


TO  FACE 
PAGE 


William  Winter xxvi 

John  McCullough 18 

Cecilia  Loverich,  Mrs.  David  Belasco   ....  44* 

David  Belasco  as  Robert  Macaire       ....  80 

Edwin  Booth  as  Hamlet        ......  94 

David  Belasco  as  Marc  Antony,  in  "Julius  Csesar"     .  136 

David  Belasco  as  Fagin,  in  "Oliver  Twist"  .         .         .  146 

Lawrence  Barrett  as  Cams  Cassius,  in  "Julius  Csesar"  166 

Joseph  Jefferson  as  Rip  Van  Winkle    .....  176 

Adelaide  Neilson      ........ 

David  Belasco  as  King  Louis  the  Eleventh  .        .        . 

David  Belasco  as  Uncle  Torn,  in  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  258 

David  Belasco  as  Hamlet 294 

In  Halftone. 

(The  Infant  Belasco  and  His  Parents   .         .         .      .  .  .  2 

Julia  Dean  (Hayne)      .        .        .        .        .        .      ;'._"  6 

xv 


xvi  ILLUSTRATIONS 

T01MOS 

PAGE 

«mi     TT-        .,  I  Charles  John  Kean,      ) 
"The  Keans"  \  „„      _        _  _      _         \      .        .        .        10 
(  Ellen  Tree,  Mrs.  Kean    J 

Belasco's    Parents,    Humphrey   Abraham,    and    Reina 

Martin,  Belasco,  About  1865        ....        22 
William  Henry   Sedley-Smith        ...        .        .        28 
Mrs.  Frank  Mark  Bates    ) 
Sallie  Hinckley  j 

„«      ~,  (  Ella  Chapman          ) 

The  Chapman  Sisters    •<  _.       ,      *  }•     . 

(  Jolanche  Chapman   ) 

Belasco,  About  1873-'75 

Joseph  Murphy    ) 
John  Piper  j  ' 

Mrs.  D.  P.  Bowers 

Dion  Boucicault 

Katharine  Rodgers 

John  T.  Raymond 

Gertrude  Granville  ) 

Annie  Pixley  as  M'liss    j 

Playbill  of  "The  Egyptian   Mystery,"   at   Egyptian 
Hall,  San  Francisco,  1877     . 

Helena  Modjeska 

Belasco  as  Armand  Duval,  in  "Camille" 

Belasco,  About  1880       .        .        ;        .        .        .        . 

Henry  J.  Montague        .         .         . 

Augustin  Daly,  About  1870-'75 

Rose  Coghlan     ) 
Nina  Varian       ) 
Lewis  Morrison 
James  O'Neill 


^ 

\- 


ILLUSTRATIONS  xvii 


TOTACB 
PAOB 


James  A.  Herne     ;        .        .        .        .        .        .        .     200 

Mary  Jeffreys-Lewis 


) 
) 


aoc\ 

Osmond  Tearle 

Thomas    Maguire    .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .      252 

F.  F.  Mackaye       ) 
Gustave  Frohman  f 

Georgia  Cayvan 286 

Charles  Frohman 

Daniel  Frohman 

Steele  Mackaye,  About  1886  ...  .298 

Annie  Robe    )  ^Q^ 

Kyrle  Bellew  j 

Lester  Wallack        ...  .306 

Albert  M.  Palmer  ...  .310 

Edward  H.  Sothern,  About  1888  .        .  .314 

Lotta  (Charlotte  Crabtree),  About  the  time  of  "Pawn 

Ticket  210" .320 

David  Belasco  and  Clay  M.  Greene  in  1887  .  .     330 

[A  Scene  from  the  "Electra"  of  Sophocles,  as  Pro 
duced  by  Belasco,  at  the  old  Lyceum  Theatre, 
New  York  .  ,  -..  .  •  354 

Elsie  Leslie  as  the  Pauper-Prince,  in  "The  Prince  and 

the  Pauper" 366 

Henry  C.  De  Mille .     374 

Mrs.   Leslie   Carter,  About   the  time   of  "The   Ugly 

Duckling"         .        .        .        ..'".-       •.        •        .     386 

Mrs.  Leslie  Carter  as  Miss  Helyett       .        .        .        .     400 

Belasco,  About  1893      .......     430 

Mrs.  Leslie  Carter,  About  1895   .        .        .        .        .     438 


xviii  ILLUSTRATIONS 


TO  TACK 

PAOK 


Mrs.   Leslie  Carter   as   Maryland  Calvert,   in   "The 

Heart  of  Maryland"       .        .        .        .        .        .446 

Mrs.  Leslie  Carter  as  Zaza           -i  464 

Belasco,  About  1899-1900 472 

.The  Death  Scene,  Belasco's  "Madame  Butterfly"       .  480 

Giacomo  Puccini      .         .        > 484 

Geraldine  Farrar  as  Madama  Butterfly       .        .        .  490 


PREFACE 


My  father's  plan  of  THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 
was  communicated,  in  detail,  by  him  to  me.  He 
realized  that  whenever  he  might  die  he  was  certain 
to  leave  much  work  undone.  He  hoped  and  expected, 
however,  to  live  long  enough  to  complete  this  book. 
It  was  in  his  mind  to  the  very  end.  The  last  entry 
in  his  "Journal"  refers  to  it:  "June.  Saturday,  2. 
Cloudy  and  gloomy.  Worked  all  day  on  the 
Memoir.3'  He  spoke  of  it  often  during  his  agonized 
•final  illness.  The  last  words  he  ever  wrote  are  a  part 
of  it.  I  have,  as  well  as  I  could,  finished  it  for  him, 
according  to  his  plan,  because  I  know  that  he  wished 
me  to  do  so. 

This  book  was  planned  by  Mr.  Winter  in  1913,  as 
part  of  a  comprehensive  record  of  the  American 
Stage  which  he  purposed  to  write.  Other  kindred 
projects  which  he  then  had  in  view  and  on  which  he 
labored  much  include  revised  and  augmented  editions 
of  his  LIFE  AND  ART  OF  EDWIN  BOOTH  and  LIFE 
AND  ART  OF  JOSEPH  JEFFERSON;  joint  biographies 
of  HENRY  IRVING  and  ELLEN  TERRY,  and  an  ency- 

xix 


xx  PREFACE 

clopedical  work  to  be  called  ALMS  FOR  OBLIVION,  in 
which  he  intended  to  gather  a  vast  mass  of  miscel 
laneous  material  relative  to  the  Theatre.  He  also 
had  in  contemplation  a  LIFE  OF  AUGUSTIN  DALY, 
but  he  abandoned  it  because  his  friend  the  late 
Joseph  Francis  Daly  (Augustin's  brother)  had 
undertaken  and  in  large  part  written  a  biography  of 
that  great  theatrical  manager  and  extraordinary 
man.  All  those  projects  languished  because  of  lack 
of  money:  such  books  as  those  by  William  Winter 
issued  since  1908  are,  in  every  way,  so  costly  to  make 
that  little  commercial  profit  can  be  derived  from 
them. 

David  Belasco,  however,  is  the  most  conspicuous 
figure,  in  the  contemporary  Theatre:  his  career  has 
been  long,  picturesque,  adventurous,  and  brilliant: 
"the  present  eye  praises  the  present  object,"  and  it 
was  deemed  certain  that  an  authentic  LIFE  of  that 
singular,  romantic  person  would  prove  remunerative 
as  well  as  interesting,  instructive,  and  valuable.  In 
September,  1913,  accordingly, — soon  after  Mr. 
Winter's  THE  WALLET  OF  TIME  had  been  brought 
out, — I  was,  as  his  agent,  easily  able  to  make  for  him 
very  advantageous  arrangements  for  the  publication 
of  such  a  work, — first  to  be  passed  through  a  prom 
inent  magazine,  as  a  serial,  and  then  to  be  issued  in 
book  form.  Mr.  Winter  was  much  pleased  and  en- 
couraged  by  this  arrangement,  and  he  had  begun  to 


PREFACE  xxi 

gather  and  shape  material  for  THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID 
BELASCO  when  announcement  was  made  that  Mr. 
Belasco  was  writing  and  would  presently  publish, 
in  HEARST'S  MAGAZINE,  an  AUTOBIOGRAPHY.  My 
father  had  met  with  a  similar  experience  in  1893, 
when  Jefferson's  AUTOBIOGRAPHY,  published  as  a 
serial  in  THE  CENTURY,  forestalled  his  authoritative 
LIFE  of  that  great  actor,  rendering  it,  monetarily, 
almost  profitless,  and,  therefore,  he  deemed  it  wise 
to  lay  aside  this  book. 

Belasco's  THE  STORY  OF  MY  LIFE  was  published 
in  HEARST'S  MAGAZINE,  March,  1914,  to  December, 
1915, — but,  though  it  preempted  the  magazine  field 
and  made  a  work  therein  by  my  father  impossible,  it 
proved  wholly  inadequate  and  unreliable  as  a  biog 
raphy.  In  September,  1916,  however, — soon  after 
SHAKESPEARE  ON  THE  STAGE — THIRD  SERIES  had 
been  published, — Mr.  Winter  decided  that  the  time 
was  propitious  for  him  to  take  up  again  the  present 
Memoir,  and,  his  publishers  agreeing  with  him,  he 
engaged  to  do  so.  He  was  then  ill  and  weak;  but  he 
earnestly  desired  to  work  till  the  last,  to  be  always 
doing,  to  overcome  every  obstacle  by  the  force,  of  his 
indomitable  will,  and,  whatever  he  might  suffer,  never 
to  yield  or  break  under  the  pressure  of  adverse  cir 
cumstance,  or  the  burden  of  age. 

About  the  end  of  October,  1916,  accordingly,  he 
began  the  actual  writing  of  this  Memoir,  and, 


xxii  PREFACE 

although  repeatedly  urged  by  me  to  desist,  he  con 
tinued  in  it  almost  to  the  last  day  of  his  life.  tel 
might  better  be  dead"  he  once  exclaimed,  "than  to 
sit  idle!  I  must  go  on:  I  must  work  at  something: 
if  it  were  not  at  this,  it  would  be  at  something  else. 
Moreover,  I  will  not  be  beaten  by  anything:  I  will 
make  this  book  the  best  thing  of  the  kind  I  have  ever 
yet  done!9 

If  he  had  lived  he  would  have  done  so;  but  his  spirit 
was  greater  than  his  strength.  When  death  came  to 
him  unconnected  sections  of  this  book,  amounting 
to  about  three-fifths  of  the  matter  contained  in 
Volume  One  and  about  one-third  of  that  contained  in 
Volume  Two,  were  in  type,  awaiting  his  revision. 
Much  of  the  remainder  was  in  manuscript — some 
parts  of  it  practically  completed,  some  of  it  more  or 
less  roughly  drafted.  My  task  has  been,  substan 
tially,  to  supply  some  dates,  to  fill  some  blanks,  and 
to  edit,  coordinate,  and  join  the  material  left  by  my 
father.  That  task  I  have  performed  with  reverence 
and  care,  and  if  the  errors  and  defects  in  this  work 
— which  I  hope  are  few — be  recognized  as  mine,  and 
the  merits  and  beauties  in  it — which  I  know  to  be 
many — be  recognized  as  his,  then  the  responsibility  of 
authorship  will  be  rightly  divided. 

Mr.  Winter  was  of  many  moods, — and,  when  pos 
sible,  he  wrought  at  his  writing  as  he  felt  inclined. 
That  is  the  reason  why  some  passages  in  this  book 


PREFACE  xxiii 

which  stand  near  to  its  close  were  finished  and  pol 
ished  by  him,  while  others,  much  earlier,  were  left 
incomplete  or  isolated.  The  subject  of  The  Theat 
rical  Syndicate,  for  example,  was  thoroughly  familiar, 
to  him,  and  he  wrote  the  section  devoted  to  that  sub 
ject  in  intervals  of  his  restudy  of  "The  Return  of 
Peter  Grimm,3"  a  play  about  which  he  had  written, 
for  this  book,  little  but  rough  notes  when  the  end 
came  (I  have,  herein,  reprinted  his  criticism  of  that 
play  previously  recorded  in  another  place).  The  last 
passage  in  the  text  on  which  he  worked  is  that  treating 
of  "The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me."  He  brought  the 
revised  manuscript  of  that  passage  to  me  on  the  after 
noon  of  June  2  and  asked  me  to  type  it  for  him, 
saying:  "I  like  the  earnestness  of  it,  and  if  you  will 
make  a  fair  copy  for  me  I  will  go  over  it  once  more 
in  the  morning  and  dismiss  it:  I  am  too  tired  to  go 
on  to-day."  On  June  3,  4,  and  5,  although  suffering 
acutely,  he  insisted  on  rising,  each  day,  and  attempted 
to  work,  but  was  unable  to  do  so.  On  the  morning 
of  June  5  he  was  forced  to  take  to  his  bed.  That 
was  the  beginning  of  the  end. 

My  father  died  on  June  30,  1917.  The  direct 
cause  of  his  death  was  urcemic  poisoning,  sequent 
on  angina  pectoris.  His  personal  reticence  was 
extreme;  he  disliked  strangers  about  him  and 
depended  on  me;  it  was,  therefore,  my  very  great 
privilege  to  wait  on  and  nurse  him  in  his  final 


XXIV 


PREFACE 


sickness.  His  suffering  was  indescribable  and  was 
exceeded  only  by  his  invariable  patience,  and  gentle 
ness.  The  last  thing  he  ever  wrote  was  the  Dedica 
tion  of  this  book.  At  about  eleven  o'clock  on  the 
night  of  June  9  lie  endeavored  to  compose  himself  to 
sleep.  I  sat  at  the  door  of  his  bedroom  until  about 
midnight,  when,  as  it  was  obvious  that  he  could  not 
sleep  and  that  he  was  in  terrible  distress,  I  went  to 
him.  The  next  two  hours  were  specially  hard:  there 
is  little  that  can  be  done  in  such  circumstances  but  to 
hope  for  the  release  of  death.  Anybody  who  has  seen 
and  heard  the  piteous  restlessness  and  the  dreadful, 
strangulated  breathing  characteristic  of  such  a  con 
dition  as  my  father's  then  was  is  not  likely  to  forget 
them.  At  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  his 
breathing  and  his  pulse  both  being  so  bad  that  I 
believed  he  was  then  to  die.,  lie  asked  to  be  helped  out 
of  bed  into  a  chair.  I  lifted  Mm  into  one,  and,  after 
a  little  while,  he  asked,  with  much  difficulty,  "Is  there 
paper — pencil,  here?"  Supposing  that  he  wished  to 
write  some  request  or  message  that  he  was  not  able 
to  speak,  I  immediately  gave  him  a  pad  of  paper  and 
a  pencil.  He  sat  for  a  few  minutes  with  them  in  his 
lap,  gathering  his  strength.  Then  he  took  them  up 
and  slowly,  painfully,  wrote  the  Dedication  of  this 
book,  all  except  the  four  lines  of  verse  with  which  it 
ends.  He  made  a  mark  beneath  the  text  and  wrote 
there  "Four  lines  of  verse — not  finished  yet."  A 


PREFACE  xxv 

while  later  he  seemed  to  grow  easier  and  presently 
asked  to  be  got  back  to  bed.    The  next  day,  June  10, 
in  the  forenoon,  lie  asked  me  to  help  him  to  dress, 
which  I  did:  it  was  the  last  time  he  ever  had  his 
clothes  on.    He  read  for  a  little  while  in  one  of  his 
favorite  books,  Boswell's  "Life  of  Johnson," — the 
passage  relative  to  the  execution  of  Dr.  Dodd.    He 
presently  spoke  to  me,  in  his  old,  gentle,  whimsical 
way,  of  fethe  touching  resignation  shown  in  Johnson's 
letter  to  the,  fact  that  Dodd  was  going  to  be  hanged." 
Then,  after  an  interval  of  acute  and  dreadful  distress, 
he  spoke  of  his  illness.    He  said:  "It  is  my  principle 
to  go  on.    I  felt  that  I  was  going  to  die  last  night, — 
that's  why  I  wrote  the  Dedication  to  the  'Belasco/ 
I  feared  I  should  die  before  I  could  complete  that 
work  and  the  three  other  books  I  have  undertaken. 
But  my  principle  is  to  go  on:  to  hold  on,  till  the  end 
— and  then,  still  hold  on!    I  do  not  mean  to  break. 
But  I  am  very  sick."    Soon  afterward  he  became  so 
weak  that  it  was  necessary  to  get  his  clothes  off  and 
lift  him  back  to  bed.    In  the  afternoon  he  roused  him 
self  again, — rising  above  the,  tide  of  poison  which  was 
slowly  submerging  him,  as  visibly  as  a  drowning  man 
rises  in  water, — and  asked  for  the  Dedication,  which 
I  had  typewritten.    He  sat  up  in  bed  and  revised 
it,  as  it  now  stands,  and  then  added  the  four  lines  of 
verse.     Although   he  had   been  suffering   horribly 
for  days  he  made  but  one  mistake  in  writing  the  Dedi- 


xxvi  PREFACE 

cation:  he  wrote  "useless"  instead  of  "useful" — and 
was  much  vexed  with  himself  for  doing  so.  In  the 
last  line  of  the  verse  he  first  wrote,  "boy";  in  the 
evening  he  changed  that  word  to  "son." 

Among  the  manuscript  notes  left  by  my  father  I 
have  found  the  beginning  of  a  PREFACE  to  this  book,, 
which  I  think  it  desirable  to  print  here  because  it 
gives  in  his  words  some  intimation  of  his  purpose  and 
feeling  in  undertaking  the  writing  of  it: 


David  Belasco  is  the  leading  theatrical  man 
ager  in  the  United  States;  the  manager  from 
whom  it  is  reasonable  to  expect  that  the  most 
of  achievement  can  proceed  that  will  be  advan 
tageous  to  the  Stage,  as  an  institution,  and  to 
the  welfare  of  the  Public  to  which  that  institu 
tion  is  essential  and  precious.  I  have  long 
believed  that  a  truthful,  comprehensive,  minute 
narrative  of  his  career, — which  has  been  one 
of  much  vicissitude  and  interest, — ought  to  be 
written  now,  while  he  is  still  living  and  working, 
when  perhaps  it  may  augment  his  prosperity, 
cheer  his  mind,  and  stimulate  his  ambition  to 
undertake  new  tasks  and  gain  new  honors.  In 
that  belief  I  have  written  this  book,  not  as  a 
panegyric,  but  as  a  Memoir. 


IN    MEMORiAM 


"Earthly  Fame 
Is  fortune's  frail  dependent;  yet  there  lives 
A  Judge,  who,  as  man  claims  by  merit,  gives: 
To  whose  all-pondering  mind  a  noble  aim, 
Faithfully  kept,  is  as  a  noble  deed: 
In  whose  pure  sight  a/1  virtue  doth  succeed." 

ph  by  I.   Almstaedt,   Staten  Island.  — Wordsworth 

B  of  Jefferson  Winter. 


to  be 


ft  \\ta-\nl" 

rt-wft  E\ 
pViuV,  K 

,m\D  «\Aon  ft  t,mm  ^n'no^wo^-XXc.  62 
\  jvp). 


dfiowzbioW- 


PREFACE  xxvii 

David  Belasco  and  William  Winter  were  friends 
for  thirty-odd  years.  They  did  not  always  agree  as 
to  the  course  which  should  be,  followed  in  theatrical 
management;  but  their  disagreements  on  that  subject, 
such  as  they  were,  never  estranged  them  nor  lessened 
their  mutual  sympathetic  understanding,  respect,  and 
regard.  Belasco,  undoubtedly,  is  what  my  father 
called  him,  t(the  last  of  the  real  managers,"  the  heir  of 
all  the  theatric  ages  in  America  that  have  been  led  by 
Dunlap,  Caldwell,  Gilfert,  Wood,  the  Wallacks, 
Booth,  McCullough,  Ford,  Palmer,  and  Daly,  and  it 
is  fitting  that  his  LIFE  should  have  been  written  by 
the  one  man  in  all  the  world  best  qualified  to  perform 
the  task.  Belasco 's  feeling  about  the  matter,  at  once 
modest  and  appreciative,  is  shown  in  a  letter  from 
which  I  quote  the  following: 

(David  Belasco  to  William  Winter.) 

October  18,  1916. 
MY  DEAR  WILLIAM  WINTER: — 

I  am  greatly  honored  to  know  that  you  are  really  going 
to  write  the  history  of  my  life !  I  will  not  say  "It  is  an 
honor  that  I  dreamed  not  of,"  because  I  have  dreamed  of 
it.  But  I  never  thought  you  would  really  undertake  it.  Of 
course  I  will,  as  you  ask,  very  gladly  do  anything  and  every 
thing  I  can  to  assist  you. 

But  though  my  life  has  not  been  altogether  an  easy  or 
uneventful  one,  in  all  sincerity  I  can  hardly  think  of  it  as 


xxviii  PREFACE 

worthy  of  your  brilliant  pen.  Yet  you  know  how  I  have 
always  looked  up  to  you,  and  so  you  will  know  how  much 
this  means  to  me  and  how  much  I  appreciate  it.  And  be 
cause  "I  hold  every  man  a  debtor  to  his  profession"  I  am 
more  than  delighted  that  you  think  the  public  will  be  inter 
ested  in  the  life  of  a  theatrical  manager, — and  that  manager 
me.  If  only  I  had  been  able  to  do  all  that  I  wanted  to,  then 
there  would  have  been  a  career  worthy  even  of  your  pen. 
It  pleases  me  so  much  whenever  there  comes  a  real,  worth 
while  tribute  to  the  profession  I  adore — the  Stage!  It  is 
great  and  wonderful  to  think  that  my  name  is  to  be  written 
in  the  records  of  the  American  Theatre  by  you:  that  here 
after  the  name  of  Belasco  (just  a  stroller  from  California 
in  the  dear  old  days  of  the  pioneers)  will  be  found  written 
by  you  along  with  the  names  of  those  who  made  our  Theatre 
possible  as  well  as  great.  I  mean  the  men  and  women  who 
gave  my  profession  of  their  best — long,  arduous,  weary 
years  of  hard,  hard  work,  at  the  sacrifice  of  personal  com 
fort;  who  studied  and  toiled  and  played  their  parts  uncom 
plainingly  night  after  night  in  the  changing  bills ;  the  friends 
who  were  never  too  tired  to  learn  something;  who  lived 
simply  and  poorly  and  yet  had  the  courage  to  marry  and 
bring  up  their  children  and  give  the  Stage  a  new  generation ; 
the  friends  who  found  joy  in  the  few  hours  they  held  sacred 
in  the  home — often  a  barren  room  or  two.  Beautiful ! 
Those  are  the  boys  and  girls  I  love — our  pioneers.  What 
pathetic  figures — what  noble  examples  many  of  them  were! 
Such  men  and  women  I  reverence — I  salute  them!  And  I 
thank  you  for  the  compliment  you  pay  me,  as  a  humble  fol 
lower  of  the  Theatre,  when  you  write  my  name  with  theirs. 
.  .  .  We  must  meet  soon  and  have  good,  long  talks  about 
the  golden  days  in  California, — my  California.  Facts  I 
can  give  you:  exact  dates  I  will  not  promise.  I  have  never 


PREFACE  xxix 

kept  a  "Diary."    ...   As  far  as  I  possibly  can  I  will  make 
my  convenience  to  suit  yours.    .    .    . 

Faithfully, 

DAVID  BELASCO. 

Many  readers  may  suppose,  because  Belasco  is  still 
living  and  at  the  zenith  of  his  career,  that  it  was  an 
easy  task  to  compile  and  arrange  a  complete  record 
of  his  life.  The  truth  is  far  otherwise.  There  was 
once  a  vast  amount  of  invaluable  material  for  such  a 
record, — comprising  a  copy  of  every  programme  in 
which  his  name  appeared  from  1871  to  the  end  of  the 
theatrical  season  of  1897-98,  together  with  every 
important  article  about  him  or  Ms  work  in  the  same 
period,  several  scores  of  photographs  of  him  in  dra 
matic  characters  and  many  hundreds  of  interesting 
letters.  But  that  unique  collection,  the  property  and 
pride  of  his  mother,  was  destroyed  in  the  great  San 
Francisco  earthquake- fire,  April  18,  1906;  and  Ms 
dubiosity  about  exact  dates  proved  to  be  more 
than  justified.  The,  comprehensive  and  authoritative 
Chronology  of  Belasco' s  Ufe  which  is  included  in  this 
Memoir  is,  therefore,  chiefly  the  product  of  Mr. 
Winter's  indefatigable,  patient  original  research  and 
labor:  such  parts  of  it  as  were  not  made  by  him  were 
made  entirely  according  to  his  plan  and  by  his  direc 
tion,  specifying  the  sources  of  information  to  be  con 
sulted.  And  I  would  specially  emphasize  the  fact 
that  wherever  this  Memoir  may  be  found  to  differ 


xxx  PREFACE 

from,  or  conflict  with,  other  accounts  of  Belasco's 
career  those  other  accounts  are  erroneous. 

The  letters  which  appear  in  this  Memoir  were  all 
selected  by  my  father, — excepting  a  few  of  his,  toward 
the  end,  which  I  have  inserted.  Mr.  Winter  requested 
Belasco  to  chose  from  his  collection  such  letters  as 
he  would  permit  to  be  used,  but  received  from  him  a 
reply  in  which  he,  writes: 

.  .  .  I  would  be  glad  to  go  through  my  letters  for  you, 
as  you  requested,  if  I  could;  but  the  fact  is  I  am  so  over 
worked  just  now  that  I  simply  can't  take  the  time  to  do  it. 
I  am,  therefore,  sending  over  to  you  eight  or  nine  old  letter- 
books  of  mine  and  two  boxes  of  old  letters.  I  really  don't 
know  what  is  in  them  (for  I  haven't  looked  at  them  for 
years),  but  I  hope  you  will  be  able  to  find  something  useful 
and  such  as  you  want  among  them.  If  not,  let  me  know  and 
I  will  send  over  some  more.  All  the  other  material  you  ask 
for  in  the  list  which  Jefferson  left  at  the  theatre  last  week 
was  destroyed  in  the  [San  Francisco]  fire.  ...  I  don't 
believe  there  are  twelve  pictures  of  me  "in  character"  in 
existence.  I  had  dozens  made  when  I  was  young,  but  I  don't 
know  of  anybody  who  has  any  to-day,  except  my  wife.  She 
has  a  set  of,  I  think,  six,  which  I  will  ask  her  to  lend 
us.  .  .  . 

In  assembling  originals  for  pictorial  illustration  of 
this  work  I  have  been  specially  aided  by  Mr.  Belasco, 
who  has  not  only  loaned  me  everything  in  his  own 
collection  for  which  I  have  asked  but  has  also  obtained 


PREFACE  xxxi 

for  my  use  many  photographs  in  the  'Albert  Davis 
Collection,  as  well  as  the  six  very  interesting  and  now, 
I  believe,  unique  pictures  of  him,  preserved  by  Mrs. 
Belasco,  in  the  characters  of  Hamlet,  Marc  Antony, 
King  Louis  the  Eleventh,  Uncle  Tom,  Fagin,  and 
Robert  Macaire.  For  photographs  of  members  of 
the  Theatrical  Syndicate  I  am  indebted  to  my 
father's  friend  and  mine,  Louis  V .  De  Foe,  Esq.,  of 
New  York.  My  father  was  not  altogether  satisfied 
with  the  illustrations  of  his  other  books:  every  effort 
has  been  made  to  embellish  this  one  as  nearly  as  pos 
sible  in  the  manner  in  which  he  would  have  had  it 
done. 

On  behalf  of  my  father  and  in  accordance  with  a 
written  note  found  among  his  papers  I  would  here 
make  grateful  acknowledgment  of  the  courtesy  of 
Mr.  Belasco's  sister,  Mrs.  Sarah  Mayer;  his  brother, 
Mr.  Frederick  Belasco,  and  his  nephew,  Mr.  E.  B. 
Mayer,  all  of  San  Francisco,  who  endeavored  to 
answer  many  inquiries  by  Mr.  Winter  and  who  were 
able  to  provide  some  necessary  corroboration  of 
details.  Also,  I  would  make  acknowledgment  of  the 
obliging  kindness  shown  him  by  the  late  James 
Louis  Gillis  (1857-1917),  Librarian  of  the  California 
State  Library  at  Sacramento,  and  by  his  assistants, 
unknown,  who  searched  for  Mr.  Winter  various  old 
California  newspaper  files  which,  otherwise,  might 
have  remained  inaccessible. 


xxxii  PREFACE 

For  myself;  I  owe  thanks  to  Mr.  Gillis3  successor 
as  State  Librarian  of  California,  Milton  J.  Ferguson, 
Esq.;  to  William  Seymour,  Esq.,  to  James  A.  Madi 
son,  Esq.,  and  to  the  several  members  of  Mr. 
Belasco's  personal  staff, — all  of  whom  have  assisted 
me  in  verifying  for  my  father  casts  of  plays 
long  ago  forgotten  and  in  supplying  or  verifying 
dates.  I  wish,  also,  to  thank  Captain  Joseph  H. 
Coit,  formerly  V ice-President  and  manager  of 
Moffat,  Yard  $  Company, — now,  I  believe,  on 
service  somewhere  in  France, — without  whose  coop 
eration  this  work,  perhaps,  might  not  have  been 
undertaken. 

To  Mr.  Belasco  I  owe  a  debt  of  lasting  grati 
tude — not  only  for  his  unquestioning,  instant  com 
pliance,  with  every  request  I  have  ventured  to  make 
of  him,  but  far  more  for  his  simple,  hearty  sym 
pathy  in  affliction  and  his  great  personal  kindness, 
which  is  not  less  valued  because  I  know  that,  pri 
marily,  it  has  been  inspired  by  his  reverence  and 
affection  for  my  father. 

The  Indices  to  this  work  I  am  chiefly  responsible 
for.  They  have  been  prepared  on  the  model  of 
others  made  under  my  father's  direction  and  in  large 
part  by  him:  many  of  the  biographical  facts  given  in 
them  were  set  down  for  the  purpose  by  him.  I  trust 
that  they  will  be  found  accurate  and  useful. 

The  delay  in  publishing  this  work  has  been  due  in 


PREFACE  xxxiii 

part  to  ill-health  which  compelled  me  long  to  neglect 
it;  in  part  to  technical  and  mechanical  difficulties  and 
mischances  in  its  manufacture.  I  surmise  that  not- 
withstanding  the  great  care  which  has  been  exercised 
some  minor  errors  and  slips  will  be  found  to  have 
crept  into  this  edition:*  if  any  are  observed  I  shall  be 
glad  to  have  them  brought  to  my  attention  in  order 
that  they  may  be  corrected  in  future  issues. 

JEFFERSON  WINTER. 
46  Winter  Avenue,  New  Brighton, 
Staten  Island,  New  York. 
June  30,  1918. 


*As  these  pages  go  to  press  such  an  error  is  noted  in  matter  already 
printed.  Volume  One,  page  231,  Charles  Groves  should  be  F.  C. 
Grove. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO. 

ANCESTRY    AND    BIRTH. 

David  Belasco,  one  of  the  most  singular,  charac 
teristic,  picturesque,  and  influential  persons  who 
have  participated  in  the  theatrical  movement  in 
America,  is  descended  from  an  old  Portuguese 
Hebrew  family  (the  name  of  which  was  originally 
pronounced  "Valasco"),  members  of  which  emi 
grated  from  Portugal  to  England  in  the  reign  of 
the  Portuguese  King  Emanuel  the  First  (1495- 
1521),  at  one  time  in  which  reign  the  Jews  in  Por 
tugal  were  cruelly  persecuted,  so  that  all  of  them 
who  could  do  so  fled  from  that  country.  His 
father,  Humphrey  Abraham  Belasco,  was  a  native 
of  England,  born  in  London,  December  26,  1830. 
His  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Reina  Martin, 
was  also  of  English  nativity,  born  in  London,  April 
24,  1830.  Both  were  Jews.  They  were  poor  and 
their  social  position  was  humble.  The  father's 
occupation  was  that  of  a  harlequin.  He  was  pro 
ficient  in  his  calling  and  he  pursued  it  successfully 
at  various  London  theatres,  but  he  did  not  find 

it  remunerative.     He  wished  to  improve  his  condi- 

l 


2        THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

tion,  and  affected,  as  many  others  were,  by  the 
"gold  fever," — which  broke  out  and  soon  became 
epidemic  after  the  discoveries  of  gold  in  California 
(1842-1848),  and  was  almost  everywhere  acute  dur 
ing  1849  and  the  early  fifties, — he  determined  to 
seek  his  fortune  in  that  apparent  Eldorado.  This 
determination  was  approved  by  his  wife,  who,  like 
himself,  was  a  person  of  strong  character  and 
adventurous  spirit,  and,  accordingly,  in  1852-'53, 
they  voyaged,  in  a  sailing  vessel,  to  Aspinwall  (now 
Colon),  crossed  the  isthmus  to  Panama,  and  went 
thence,  by  another  sailing  vessel,  to  San  Francisco, 
California,  arriving  there  almost  destitute.  Their 
first  lodging  was  in  a  house,  long  ago  destroyed, 
in  Howard  Street,  where,  in  a  room  in  a  cellar, 
July  25,  1853,  occurred  the  birth  of  their  first  child, 
David  Belasco,  the  subject  of  this  Memoir. 


BOYHOOD    IN    BRITISH    COLUMBIA. 

The  residence  of  those  adventurers  in  San  Fran 
cisco  continued  for  several  years,  Humphrey 
Belasco  keeping  a  general  shop  and  moderately 
prospering  as  a  tradesman,  but  about  the  begin 
ning  of  1858  they  migrated  (travelling  by  sailing 
vessel)  to  the  coast  town  of  Victoria,  then  a  trading 
post  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company, — later  (1862) 


From   an   old   photograph. 


Belasco's    Collection. 


THE  INFANT  BELASCO  AND  HIS  PARENTS,  1854 

INSCRIPTION  : 

"Father   and   Mother   and   Me  —  during   my   first   starring 
engagement.  —  D.   B." 


JA4/^i^  t***t   <U+*J'    O^A^/lJ^jr 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO        3 

incorporated  a  city.  There  Humphrey  Belasco  con 
tinued  in  business,  as  a  dealer  in  tobacco,  fur,  and 
other  commodities,  trading  with  miners  and  Indian 
hunters  and  trappers,  and  also  he  dabbled  in  real 
estate  speculation  and  took  part  in  mining  opera 
tions,  joining  a  party  that  explored  the  Cariboo 
Mines  region.  He  was  not  fortunate  in  his  real 
estate  and  mining  ventures,  nor  did  he  specially 
prosper  in  trade, — though,  as  Macaulay  says  of 
Richardson,  the  novelist,  "he  kept  his  shop  and 
his  shop  kept  him.*"  Humphrey  Belasco  is  men 
tioned,  in  a  record  of  that  place,  as  keeping  a 
tobacco  shop  there,  in  Yates  Street,  in  1862.  He 
remained  in  Victoria  for  about  seven  years,  and 
there  three  of  his  children  were  born:  Israel,  July 
25,  1861;  Frederick,  June  25,  1862,  and  Walter, 
January  1,  1864.  The  elder  Belasco  was  a  social 
favorite,  and  so  considerable  was  his  popularity  that 
he  was  more  than  once  asked  to  accept  public 
office, — a  distinction  which  he  declined.  He  is 
remembered  as  a  modest,  lovable  person,  genial 
in  feeling  and  manner,  a  pleasant  companion  and 
a  clever  entertainer  in  the  privacy  of  his  home, 
and  as  having  been  specially  fond  of  quietude. 
In  Victoria  much  of  David's  childhood  was 

*The  precept  occurs  in  "Poor  Richard's  Almanac,"  "Keep  your  shop 
and  your  shop  will  keep  you." — W.  W. 


4.        THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

passed.  From  his  mother,  who  was  intellectual, 
imaginative,  romantic,  and  of  a  peculiarly  amiable 
disposition,  he  received  the  rudiments  of  educa 
tion:  she  taught  him  neatness,  self-respect,  industry, 
and  the  importance  of  acquiring  knowledge.  I 
have  heard  him  speak  of  her,  with  deep  emotion, 
as  the  friend  from  whom  he  had  derived  those  les 
sons  of  courage,  energy,  perseverance,  and  arduous 
labor  that  have  guided  him  through  life.  He  was 
early  sent  to  a  school  called  the  Colonial,  in  Vic 
toria,  conducted  by  an  Irishman  named  Burr, 
remembered  as  a  person  whose  temper  was  vio 
lent  and  whose  discipline  was  harsh.  Later,  he 
attended  a  school  called  the  Collegiate,  conducted 
by  T.  C.  Woods,  a  clergyman.  When  about 
seven  years  old  he  attracted  the  attention  of 

a  kindly  Roman  Catholic  priest,  Father  — 

McGuire,  then  aged  eighty-six,  who  perceived  in 
him  uncommon  intelligence  and  precocious  talent, 
and  who  presently  proposed  to  his  parents  that 
the  boy  should  dwell  under  his  care  in  a  monastery 
and  be  educated.  Strenuous  objection  to  that 
arrangement  was  at  first  made  by  David's  father, 
sturdily  Jewish  and  strictly  orthodox  in  his  religious 
views;  but  the  mother,  more  liberal  in  opinion  and 
more  sagaciously  provident  of  the  future,  assented, 
and  her  persuasions,  coincident  with  the  wish  of 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO        5 

the  lad  himself,  eventually  prevailed  against  the 
paternal  scruples.  In  the  monastery  David 
remained  about  two  and  a  half  years,  supervised 
by  Father  McGuire,  and  he  made  good  progress  in 
various  studies.  The  effect  of  the  training  to  which 
he  was  there  subjected  was  exceedingly  beneficial: 
ecclesiastics  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  have 
long  been  eminent  for  scholarship  and  for  efficiency 
in  the  education  of  youth:  their  influence  endured, 
and  it  is  visible  in  David  Belasco's  habits  of  thought, 
use  of  mental  powers,  tireless  labor,  persistent  pur 
pose  to  excel,  and  likewise  in  his  unconscious 
demeanor,  and  even  in  his  attire.  It  would  have 
been  better  for  the  boy  if  he  had  remained  longer 
in  the  monastic  cell  and  under  the  guidance  of 
his  benevolent  protector,  but  he  had  inherited  a 
gypsy  temperament  and  a  roving  propensity,  he 
became  discontented  with  seclusion,  and  suddenly, 
without  special  cause  and  without  explanation,  he 
fled  from  the  monastery  and  joined  a  wandering  cir 
cus,  with  which  he  travelled.  In  that  association  he 
was  taught  to  ride  horses  "bareback"  and  to  per 
form  as  a  miniature  clown.  A  serious  illness  pres 
ently  befell  him  and,  being  disabled,  he  was  left 
in  a  country  town,  where  he  would  have  died  but 
for  the  benevolent  care  of  a  clown,  Walter  Kings- 
ley  by  name,  who  remained  with  him, — obtaining 


6        THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

a  scanty  subsistence  by  clowning  and  singing  in 
the  streets,  for  whatever  charity  might  bestow, — 
and  nursed  him  through  a  malignant  fever,  only 
himself  to  be  stricken  with  it,  and  to  die,  just  as 
the  boy  became  convalescent.  Meantime  Hum 
phrey  Belasco,  having  contrived  to  trace  his  fugitive 
son,  came  to  his  rescue  and  carried  him  back  to 
Victoria,  to  a  loving  mother's  care  and  to  his  life 
at  school. 


EARLY    PROCLIVITY    FOR    THE    THEATRE. 

It  was  about  this  time,  1862-'63,  that  David's 
strong  inclination  for  theatrical  pursuits  became  spe 
cially  manifest.  His  mother  was  fond  of  poetry, 
and  she,  and  also  his  school  teachers,  had  taught 
him  to  memorize  and  recite  verses.  His  parents, 
the  father  having  been  a  professional  harlequin 
(one  of  David's  uncles,  his  namesake,  it  should  be 
mentioned,  was  the  admired  English  actor  David 
James  [1839-1893],  and  the  whole  family  was  his- 
trionical),  naturally  sought  the  Theatre  and  affili 
ated  as  much  as  they  could  with  whatever  players 
came  to  Victoria  or  were  resident  there  as  mem 
bers  of  the  local  stock  company.  David  had  been 
"carried  on,"  at  the  Victoria  Theatre  Royal,  as 
Coras  Child,  in  "Pizarro," — that  once  famous  play, 


From    an   old    photograph.  The   Albert  Davis  Collection. 

JULIA    DEAN    (HAYXE) 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO        7 

adapted  from  Augustus  Frederick  Ferdinand  von 
Kotzebue's  "Die  Spanier  in  Peru,"  and  rewritten 
by  Sheridan.  That  incident  probably  occurred 
when  the  talented  and  beautiful  Julia  Dean  (1830- 
1868),  in  the  season  of  1857-'58,  first  acted  in  Vic 
toria, — "Pizarro"  having  been  in  her  repertory  and 
Cora  one  of  the  parts  in  which  she  was  distinguished. 
In  June,  1856,  Julia  Dean  was  lessee  of  the  Ameri 
can  Theatre,  San  Francisco;  she  made  several  tours 
in  Pacific  Coast  towns.  Belasco  remembers  having 
played  the  boy,  William,  in  "East  Lynne,"  with 
her,  but  that  appearance  must  have  occurred  later, 
because  "East  Lynne,"  as  a  novel,  was  not  pub 
lished  till  1861,  and  it  was  not  launched  earlier  as 
a  play.  Julia  Dean  returned  to  the  East  in  1858, 
but  made  at  least  one  subsequent  tour  of  the  West 
ern  States. 


MEMORIES    OF    JULIA    DEAN. 

Belasco's  random  recollections  of  the  actors  with 
whom  he  was  brought  in  contact  while  in  California 
and  other  parts  of  the  West  are  those  of  a  youthful 
enthusiast,  generally  injudicious,  frequently  incor 
rect,  sometimes  informative,  always  indicative  of 
amiability.  Julia  Dean,  who  held  little  David  in 
her  arms  when  he  was  a  child,  and  with  whom  he 


8        THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

appeared  in  boyhood,  remains  to  this  day  an  object 
of  his  homage.  She  was  one  of  the  best  actresses 
of  her  time.  I  saw  her  first  at  the  Boston  Museum, 
in  1854,  as  Julia,  in  "The  Hunchback,"  later  in 
other  characters,  and  was  charmed  by  her  exquisite 
beauty  and  her  winning  personality.  I  saw  her 
for  the  last  time,  in  New  York,  in  July,  1867,  at 
the  Broadway  Theatre  (the  house  which  had  been 
Wallack's  Lyceum),  where  she  was  playing, — with 
peculiar  skill  and  fine  effect, — Laura  Fairlie  and 
Anne  Catherick,  in  "The  Woman  in  White."  She 
was  a  scion  of  a  theatrical  family.  Her  maternal 
grandfather,  Samuel  Drake  (1772-1847),  an  Eng 
lish  actor,  was  highly  esteemed  on  our  Stage  a 
hundred  years  ago.  Her  mother,  Julia  Drake  (first 
Mrs.  Thomas  Fosdick,  later  Mrs.  Edmund  Dean), 
was  a  favorite  in  the  theatres  of  the  West  and  was 
accounted  exceptionally  brilliant.  Julia  Dean  went 
on  the  stage  (1845)  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  made 
her  first  appearance  in  New  York  in  1846,  at  the  old 
Bowery  Theatre,  and  continued  in  practice  of  her 
art  till  the  end  of  her  life.  She  was  lovely  in  person 
and  not  less  lovely  in  character.  Her  figure  was 
tall  and  slender,  her  complexion  fair,  her  hair  chest 
nut-brown,  her  voice  sweet,  her  movement  grace 
ful,  and  she  had  sparkling  hazel  eyes.  The  existing 
portraits  of  her  give  no  adequate  reflection  of  her 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO        9 

beauty.  In  acting,  her  intelligence  was  faultless, 
her  demeanor  natural,  her  feeling  intense.  Her 
every  action  seemed  spontaneous.  Her  imagination 
was  quick,  she  possessed  power  and  authority,  and 
she  could  thrill  her  audience  with  fine  bursts  of  pas 
sion, — as  notably  she  did  in  the  Fifth  Act  of  "The 
Hunchback" ;  but,  as  I  recall  her,  she  enticed  chiefly 
by  her  intrinsic  loveliness.  Her  performance  of 
Knowles's  Julia  was  perfection.  She  played  many 
exacting  parts, — such  as  Bianco,,  in  "Fazio";  Mrs. 
Holler,  in  "The  Stranger";  Margaret  Elmore,  in 
"Love's  Sacrifice";  Griseldis,  and  Adrienne  Lecou- 
vreur.  She  was  the  primary  Norma,  in  Epes  Sar 
gent's  "Priestess,"  which  was  first  acted  in  Boston, 
and  she  was  the  primary  Leonor,  in  George  Henry 
Boker's  tragedy  of  "Leonor  de  Guzman,"  first  pro 
duced  at  the  original  Broadway  Theatre,  New  York, 
April  25,  1854.  Whatever  she  did  was  earnestly 
done.  Her  soul  was  in  her  art,  and  she  never  per 
mitted  anything  to  degrade  it.  A  marriage  con 
tracted  (1855)  with  Dr.  Arthur  Hayne, — son  of 
Robert  Young  Hayne,  United  States  Senator  from 
South  Carolina,  whose  semi-seditious  advocacy  of 
"State  Rights"  prompted  Daniel  Webster's  great 
oration  in  the  Senate  (1830), — resulted  unhappily, 
somewhat  embittering  her  mind  and  impairing  the 
bloom  of  her  artistic  style.  She  obtained  a  divorce 


10      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

and  (1866)  became  the  wife  of  James  Cooper.  She 
died  suddenly,  in  childbirth,  March  6,  1868.  At 
her  funeral,  two  days  later,  at  Christ  Church,  Fifth 
Avenue  and  Thirty-first  Street,  New  York,  the 
service  was  performed  by  Rev.  Ferdinand  Cart- 
wright  Ewer  (1826-1883),  a  noted  Episcopalian 
ritualist,  who  in  early  life  had  been  a  dramatic 
critic, — one  of  competent  intelligence,  good  judg 
ment,  and  considerate  candor, — associated  with  the 
newspaper  press  of  San  Francisco,  had  known  her 
in  the  season  of  her  California  triumphs,  and  well 
knew  her  worth  both  as  actress  and  woman. 


REMOVAL    TO    SAN    FRANCISCO. 

Young  David  Belasco  was  frequently  utilized 
for  infantile  and  juvenile  parts  at  the  Victoria  Thea 
tre.  In  1864,  when  Charles  Kean,  in  his  farewell 
"tour  round  the  world,"  filled  a  short  engagement 
there,  the  lad  appeared  as  the  little  Duke  of  York, 
in  "King  Richard  III."  His  age  was  then  eleven, 
but  he  was  diminutive  and  therefore  he  suited  that 
part.  During  Kean's  engagement  he  also  appeared 
as  a  super  in  "Pauline."  About  1865  Humphrey 
Belasco,  his  fortunes  not  improving  as  he  had  hoped, 
removed  his  family  from  Victoria  and  established 
residence  in  San  Francisco,  where  he  opened  a  fruit 


woo 

BS      CD       O 


to 

< 

M 

*     S 

8    2 
o    "T 


o     2 

11 

^   5P 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      11 

] 

shop,  fraternized  with  players  at  the  theatres,  gain 
ing  friends  and  popularity,  and  where  he  spent  the 
rest  of  his  life.  David  was  sent  to  the  Lincoln 
Grammar  School,  which  for  some  time  he  continued 

to  attend.     There  he  was  studious,  and  there,  in 

•^""^ 

particular,  he  was  trained  in  elocution, — that  art 
having  been  specially  esteemed  by  his  teachers. 
Among  the  persons  who,  at  various  times,  instructed 
him  in  elocution  were  Dr.  Ira  G.  Hoitt,  Miss 

• James,  Professor  Ebenezer  Knowlton,  and 

Miss  "Nelly"  Holbrook,  once  an  actress  of  dis 
tinction  (she  figures  among  the  oldtime  female 
players  of  Hamlet  and  Romeo],  mother  of  the  con 
temporary  actor  (1917)  Holbrook  Blinn.  The 
boy's  talent  for  declamation  had  been  quickly  per 
ceived,  and  a  judicious  endeavor  was  made  to  foster 
and  develop  it.  Among  the  poems  he  was  taught 
to  recite,  and  which,  in  the  esteem  of  his  teachers, 
he  recited  well,  were  "The  Vagabonds,"  by  John 
Townsend  Trowbridge;  "The  Maniac,"  by  Mat 
thew  Gregory  Lewis;  "Curfew  Must  Not  Ring 
To-night,"  by  Rosa  Hartwick  Thorpe,  and  "Ber 
nardo  del  Carpio,"  by  Felicia  Hemans.  Those 
poems  were  well  chosen  for  the  purpose  in  view, 
because  each  of  them  contains  a  dramatic  element 
propitious  to  a  declaimer. 


12      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

GLIMPSES    OP    BOYHOOD. 

At  one  time,  in  his  boyhood,  at  Victoria,  Belasco 
was  adopted  by  the  local  Fire  Department  as  "a 
mascot,"  and  when  parades  of  the  firemen 
occurred, — the  hook  and  ladder  vehicle  being  drawn 
with  ropes  by  the  men, — the  little  lad  either  walked 
at  the  head  of  the  line  or  rode,  perched  high  upon 
the  wagon,  arrayed  in  a  red  shirt,  black  trousers 
and  boots,  and  a  fire-helmet.  After  removing,  with 
his  parents,  from  Victoria  to  San  Francisco,  he  was 
sent  to  a  school  called  the  Fourth  Street,  and  it  was 
from  there  that  he  went  to  the  Lincoln.  He  took 
the  honors  for  penmanship,  being  assigned  to  keep 
the  school  "rolls,"  and  sometimes  his  "compositions" 
were  framed  and  hung  in  the  halls,  for  the  edification 
of  other  pupils.  There,  also,  he  was  awarded  a 
gold  medal,  as  being  the  best  reader  and  performer 
of  Tragedy, — a  prize  which  he  pawned  for  the  bene 
fit  of  the  family, — while  his  chum,  James  O.  Bar 
rows,  obtained  a  silver  medal  for  special  cleverness 
in  Comedy.  As  a  schoolboy  he  was  particularly  fond 
of  reading  "dime  novels,"  which,  for  convenience 
of  surreptitious  perusal,  he  customarily  concealed 
in  his  boots.  For  some  time  after  their  return  to 
San  Francisco  the  Belascos  dwelt  in  a  house  in  Har 
rison  Street;  later,  they  resided  in  Louisa  Street. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      13 

The  first  play,  apparently,  that  David  wrote  was 
concocted  later,  after  the  family  had  removed  to 
No.  174  Clara  Street,  and  was  entitled  "Jim  Black; 
or,  The  Regulator's  Revenge!''  Another  of  his  early 
pieces  of  dramatic  writing  (and,  perhaps,  it  may 
have  been  the  first)  was  called  "The  Roll  of  the 
Drum."  Belasco  is  very  positive  that  he  wrote  this 
soon  after  the  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln  (April 
15,  1865), — at  which  time  he  was  less  than  twelve 
years  old.  His  recollection  regarding  this  may  be 
correct;  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  an  extraordi 
narily  precocious  child,  and  such  children  do,  some 
times,  write  astonishing  compositions  even  at  an 
earlier  age  than  twelve.  Belasco  is  equally  positive 
that  his  play,  while  it  was,  at  various  times,  acted 
outside  of  San  Francisco,  was  never  played  in  that 
city.  A  play  of  the  same  name  was  performed, 
by  Mme.  Methua-Scheller  and  associates,  at 
Maguire's  Opera  House,  for  the  benefit  of  "Sue" 
Robinson,  on  November  26, 1869,  announced  as  "The 
new  military  drama";  this  was  not  Belasco's  play, 
but  one  wholly  different  from  it.  Belasco's  custom, 
as  a  lad,  was  to  keep  a  table  by  his  bedside,  with 
writing  materials,  candle  and  matches  upon  it,  in 
order  to  note  at  once  any  idea  that  might  occur  to 
him  as  likely  to  be  of  service  in  his  theatrical  work, 
and  he  was  often  rewarded  for  this  precaution.  In 


14      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

all  my  study  of  theatrical  history  I  have  not  encoun 
tered  a  person  more  downright  daft,  more  completely 
saturated  in  every  fibre  of  his  being,  with  passion 
for  the  Stage  and  things  dramatical  than  was  young 
David  Belasco. 


SCHOOL    DAYS    IN    SAN    FRANCISCO. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  dated  Decem 
ber  25,  1916,  addressed  to  Belasco  by  one  of  his 
schoolmates,  E.  F.  Lennon,  Esqr.,  now  (1917)  City 
Clerk  of  Red  Bluff,  Tehama  County,  California, 
provides  a  glimpse  of  him  as  a  schoolboy  in  San 
Francisco: 

".  .  .  We  drifted  away  from  each  other  in  old  'Frisco, 
in  the  early  seventies,  and  chance  has  kept  us  distant  from 
each  other.  .  .  .  You  and  I  lived  near  each  other,  in  the 
old  days, — you  in  Louisa  Street,  I,  a  block  away,  in  Shipley. 
We  went  to  the  old  Lincoln  School  and  travelled  through 
the  same  grades  .  .  .  and  in  them  all  we  were  together. 
Do  you  remember  when  you  and  I  started  a  Circulating 
Library,  in  your  home?  You  had  quite  a  collection  of 
books  and  I  had  a  number  also,  and  we  put  them  on 
shelves  in  your  house.  Not  long  after  a  fire  came  along 
and  destroyed  our  good  intentions.  .  .  .  We  also  had  our 
theatrical  performances,  in  the  basement  of  my  home,  when 
the  price  of  admission  was  a  gunny-sack  or  a  beer  bottle. 
You  were  the  star  actor  and  our  presentations  were  often 
attended  by  the  grown-ups.  ...  I  remember  when  Queen 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      15 

Emma,  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  visited  our  school,  and 
the  entire  body  of  students  were  marched  upstairs  to  the 
big  hall  to  see  and  entertain  her.  You  recited  your 
famous  selection,  "The  Madman"  [Lewis's  "The  Maniac"]. 
Another  pupil  and  myself  did  a  little  better  than  the  bunch : 
I  think  the  other  boy's  name  was  Moore.  He  and  I  kissed 
the  Queen,  and  it  was  the  talk  of  the  school  for  some  time. 
She  took  the  kisses  all  right,  and  we  got  a  lecture  for  our 
audacity,  and  perhaps  a  licking.  .  .  ." 


HARD    TIMES    IN    EARLY    DAYS. 

The  removal  of  the  Belasco  family  from  Vic 
toria  to  San  Francisco  was  not  attended  by  material 
prosperity,  and  for  several  years  the  family  suffered 
the  pinch  of  poverty.  Young  David  keenly  felt 
the  necessity  of  helping  his  parents,  and  by  every 
means  in  his  power  he  tried  to  do  so.  His  conduct, 
in  those  troublous  years,  as  it  has  been  made  known 
to  me,  not  only  in  conversations  with  himself,  but 
in  communications  by  his  surviving  relatives,  pro 
vides  a  remarkable  example  of  filial  devotion.  As 
a  lad,  in  Victoria,  he  had  shown  surprising  facility 
in  learning  the  Indian  language  and  frequently 
had  acted  as  interpreter  for  Indians  who  traded 
with  his  father;  also,  he  had  manifested  that  lively 
and  shrewd  propensity  for  trading  which  is  peculiar 
to  the  Jew.  As  a  lad,  in  San  Francisco,  while 
attending  school  as  often  as  possible,  he  regularly 


16      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

remained  at  home,  after  the  morning  session,  every 
Friday,  in  order  to  assist  his  mother  in  washing 
clothes  for  the  family,  a  labor  which,  being  then 
of  low  stature,  he  could  perform  only  by  standing 
on  a  large  box,  thus  being  enabled  to  reach 
into  the  washtub.  He  would  also  help  his  mother 
in  the  drudgery  of  the  kitchen,  and  then  often  do 
for  her  the  necessary  household  marketing  for  the 
coming  week;  and  he  would  make  up,  every  week, 
the  records  and  accounts  of  his  father's  business  in 
the  shop.  When  neither  at  school  nor  occupied 
at  home  he  would  seek  and  perform  any  odd  piece 
of  work  by  which  a  trifle  might  be  earned.  He 
was  by  nature  a  book-lover  and  acquisitive  of  infor 
mation:  he  had  access  to  several  public  libraries, 
but  he  craved  ownership  of  books,  and  from  time 
to  time  he  earned  a  little  money  for  the  purchase 
of  them  by  recitations,  sometimes  given  in  the  homes 
of  his  friends,  sometimes  at  church  entertainments, 
sometimes  at  Irish- American  Hall  and  other  similar 
places.  For  each  of  such  recitations  he  received  two 
dollars,  and  on  some  nights  he  recited  two,  three, 
or  four  times.  As  he  grew  older,  especially  after 
1868,  his  efforts  to  obtain  employment  at  theatres 
grew  more  and  more  constant,  and,  as  already  said, 
they  were  occasionally  successful.  His  activities, 
indeed,  were  such  that  it  is  a  wonder  his  health  was 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      17 

not  permanently  impaired, — but  he  was  possessed 
of  exceptional  vitality,  which  happily  has  endured. 
Once  he  worked  for  a  while  as  a  chore-boy  in  a 
cigar  store  and  factory,  where  he  washed  windows, 
scrubbed  floors,  and  rendered  whatever  menial  serv 
ice  was  required,  opening  the  place  at  morning  and 
closing  it  at  evening.  That  was  a  hard  experience, 
but  it  led  to  something  better,  because  the  keeper 
of  the  cigar-shop,  taking  note  of  him  and  his  ways, 
procured  for  him  a  better  situation,  which  for  some 
time  he  held,  in  a  bookstore.  There  he  had  access 
to  many  books,  and  he  eagerly  improved  every 
opportunity  of  reading.  A  chief  recreation  of  his 
consisted  in  haunting  the  wharves,  gazing  at  the 
ships,  and  musing  and  wondering  about  the  strange 
tropical  lands  from  which  they  came  and  to  which 
presently  they  would  sail  away. 

THE  SENTIMENTAL  STOWAWAY. 

There  was  one  singular  consequence  of  Belasco's 
interest  in  ships  and  his  somewhat  extravagant  and 
sentimental  fancy  which  is  worth  special  record. 
The  tragedian  John  McCullough  used  frequently 
to  recite,  with  pathetic  effect,  a  ballad,  once  widely 
known,  by  Arthur  Matthison  (1826-1883),  called 
"The  Little  Hero,"— originally  named  "The  Stow- 


18      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

away,"  and  first  published  in  "Watson's  Art  Jour 
nal,"  New  York.  The  earliest  record  I  have  been 
able  to  find  of  McCullough's  delivery  of  this  ballad 
in  San  Francisco  states  that  he  recited  it  on  the 
occasion  of  a  performance  given  for  the  benefit  of 
Lorraine  Rogers,  director  of  the  California  Theatre, 
on  November  30,  1869.  Then  or,  perhaps,  earlier 
(since  McCullough  was  in  San  Francisco  as  early 
as  1866)  Belasco  heard  him,  and  his  febrile  fancy, 
already  superheated  by  excessive  reading  of  morbid 
sensation  stories,  was  so  fired  by  the  recitation  that 
he  felt  impelled  to  submit  himself  to  a  similar  experi 
ence.  In  his  "Story"  he  gives  the  following  account 
of  his  adventure  as  a  Stowaway: 

"The  story  of  'The  Little  Hero'  related  the  adventures  of 
a  stowaway  who  was  discovered  in  his  hiding-place  by  the 
sailors  when  they  were  in  mid-ocean,  and  the  lad  was  forced 
to  work,  and  was  beaten  and  starved  into  the  bargain.  As 
a  boy  I  had  read  a  like  tale,  which  had  so  stirred  my  imagi 
nation  that  I  used  to  dream  of  it  by  night,  and  in  my  spare 
time  by  day  I  would  wander  along  the  wharves  to  gaze  at 
the  shipping.  How  it  happened  I  don't  quite  know,  but 
my  feet  led  me  on  board  a  boat  and,  simply  as  an  experi 
ment,  I  hid  myself.  Then  a  rash  notion  came  into  my 
head !  Suppose  I  stayed  where  I  was  and  put  into  practice 
what  the  poem  had  so  graphically  described!  For  thirty 
hours  I  crouched  behind  my  sable  bulwark,  and  after  inter 
minable  sailing  it  seemed  to  me  about  time  that  I  was  dis 
covered,  so  I  made  myself  visible,  I  was  dragged  up  on 


JOHN     MCCULLOUGH 

"This  was  the  noblest  Roman  of  them  all!" 

-Julius  Caesar 


zraph  by  Sarony. 
r's  Collection. 


18 


VSCO 

Jour- 
been 
Had 
the 
t  of 
;  tre, 
earlier 
s  early 
febrile  fancy, 

heated  ^g  of  morbid 

by  the  recitation  that 

:iar  experi- 

the  following  account 

venture  as  a  Stowawi* 

es  of 
the 


my  spai 
o  g 

,  b\ 


auilul 


<J    Up 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      19 

deck  with  no  tender  touch,  and  there  the  analogy  between 
the  little  hero  and  myself  vanished.  The  captain  of  the 
schooner  was  a  friend  of  my  father's.  'Aren't  you  Hum 
phrey's  boy?'  he  asked,  and  I  was  obliged  to  confess  to  my 
identity.  'Take  him  downstairs  and  wash  him,'  the  captain 
ordered,  for  contact  with  the  coal  had  made  me  look  like  a 
blackamoor;  despite  my  protestations  that  this  was  not  the 
correct  treatment  for  a  stowaway,  I  was  taken  below.  'Give 
him  something  to  eat,'  he  called  after  us,  but  I  was  as 
obdurate  as  a  militant  suffragette  in  the  matter  of  food. 
Later  on,  when  I  was  'swabbed  down,'  I  was  taken  on  deck 
again,  where  I  was  obliged  to  tell  the  captain  my  story,  and 
the  reasons  for  my  escapade.  'I'll  be  blazed  if  I  lick  you 
as  you  seem  to  want !'  said  he.  I  was  reciting  the  story  to 
the  queer  group  gathered  about  me,  when  I  suddenly  realized 
that  my  old  enemy  seasickness  was  creeping  over  me.  'Let 
me  scrub  the  floor,'  I  pleaded.  'They  always  do.'  At  first 
they  laughingly  refused,  but  presently,  to  humor  me,  I  was 
put  to  work  on  a  brass  rail  that  needed  shining.  However, 
the  smell  of  the  oil  polish  hastened  my  catastrophe.  I  was  put 
to  bed  and  very  glad  to  be  there.  From  Vancouver  I  was 
shipped  home,  where  I  found  my  mother  rejoiced  to  get  me 
back.  She  was  not  so  perturbed  as  she  might  have  been, 
because  the  poor  lady  was  used  to  my  'disappearances'  in 
search  of  adventure  and  the  romantic.  She  always  knew 
that  I  was  doing  something  or  other  to  gain  new  impres 
sions,  and  her  heart  was  wonderfully  attuned  to  mine." 


A     BOHEMIAN    INTERLUDE. 

Belasco  left  school  in  June,  1871.     In  August, 
1878,  he  married.     It  has  been  impossible  to  fix 


20      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

precise  dates  for  some  of  his  proceedings  within 
that  period  of  about  two  years  and  three  months. 
Though  he  steadily,  if  at  first  slowly,  progressed, 
and  though  specific  records  of  his  doings  become 
more  and  more  frequent  as  the  years  pass  in  review, 
it  is  not  until  about  1876-'79  that  they  are  numerous. 
During  all,  or  almost  all,  of  the  period  indicated 
(1871-1879), — more  so  in  the  earlier  part  than  in 
the  later, — he  was  a  nomadic  bohemian.  At  first 
he  often  roamed  the  streets  at  night  and  would 

visit  the  saloons  and  low  "dives"  which  abounded 

/ 

in  San  Francisco,  and  recite  before  the  rough  fre 
quenters  of  those  resorts, — sometimes  giving  "The 
Maniac,"  sometimes  "Bernardo  del  Carpio,"  some 
times  "shockers"  of  his  own  composition  (things 
which  he  wrote  with  facility,  on  any  current  topic 
that  attracted  his  attention),  and  gather  whatever 
money  might  be  thrown  to  him  by  those  unruly  but 
often  liberal  auditors.  On  a  Sunday  he  was  some 
times  fortunate  enough  to  earn  as  much  as  ten  or 
twelve  dollars  by  his  recitals.  Another  means  of 
gain  that  he  employed  was  the  expedient  of  volun 
teer  press  reporting.  He  would  visit  every  gam 
bling  "den,"  opium  "joint,"  hospital,  and  police- 
station  to  which  he  could  obtain  access  (the  morgue 
was  one  of  his  familiar  resorts),  and  write  brief 
stories  of  whatever  scenes  and  occurrences  he  might 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      21 

observe,  to  be  sold  to  any  newspaper  that  would 
pay  for  them, — when  he  was  lucky  enough  to  make 
a  sale.  In  talking  to  me  about  his  youthful  days, 
as  he  has  done  in  the  course  of  a  friendly  acquaint 
ance  extending  over  many  years,  he  has  particularly 
dwelt  on  the  intense,  often  morbid,  and  quite  irre 
sistible  interest  which,  in  early  life,  he  felt  in  every 
thing  extraordinary,  emotional,  sensational,  dra 
matic, — everything  that  might  be  called  phenomenal. 
"As  a  young  fellow,"  he  once  said  to  me,  "I  visited 
the  scene  of  every  murder  that  I  heard  of — and  they 
were  many.  I  knew  every  infamous  and  dangerous 
place  in  San  Francisco.  Once  I  tried  to  interfere 
between  a  blackguard  and  his  woman,  whom  he 
was  abusing,  and  I  got  a  bullet  along  the  forehead 
for  my  trouble:  I  have  the  scar  of  it  to  this  day. 
It  was  freely  predicted  that  I  would  end  in  state's 
prison,  probably  on  the  gallows.  Only  my  dear 
mother  seemed  to  understand  me.  My  adventures 
and  wanderings  (' Wandering  Feet,'  she  used  to  call 
me)  worried  her,  which  I  grieve  to  think  of  now, 
but  she  always  took  my  part.  'Davy  is  all  right,' 
she  used  to  say;  'leave  him  alone;  he's  only  curious 
about  life,  and  wants  to  see  everything  with  those 
big,  dark  eyes  of  his.'  She  was  right;  and,  if  I 
didn't  see  everything,  I  saw  a  good  deal." 

The  miscellaneous  knowledge  that  young  Belasco 


22      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

accumulated  in  observation  of  "the  seamy  side" 
of  life  by  night,  in  one  of  the  most  vicious,  turbu 
lent,  and  perilous  cities  in  the  world, — which  San 
Francisco  certainly  was,  in  his  juvenile  time, — 
was  of  much  use  to  him  when,  later,  he  became 
employed  as  a  hack-writer  of  sensation  melodramas, 
in  the  theatres  of  that  city  and  other  cities  of  the 
West. 


BELASCO'S    EARLIEST    ASSOCIATIONS    WITH    THE 
THEATRE    IN    SAN    FRANCISCO 

It  is  not  possible  to  furnish  an  entirely  full,  clear, 
chronological  account  of  Belasco's  earliest  relations 
with  the  Theatre  in  San  Francisco.  Various  cur 
rent  sketches  of  his  career  which  I  have  examined 
either  give  no  details  as  to  this  part  of  it,  or  make 
assertions  about  it  which  I  have  ascertained  to  be 
incorrect.  The  subject  is  not  explicitly  treated 
in  his  autobiographical  fragment,  "The  Story  of  My 
Life,"  a  formless,  rambling  narrative,  obviously, 
to  a  discerning  reader,  evolved  from  discursive 
memory,  without  consultation  of  records  or  neces 
sary  specification  of  dates  or  verification  of  state 
ments,  and  which  I  have  found  to  be,  in  many 
essential  particulars,  inaccurate.  Few  persons  pos 
sess  an  absolutely  trustworthy  memory  of  dates, 


From   an    old   photograph. 


Belasco's   Collection. 

BELASCO'S   PARENTS 
HUMPHREY  ABRAHAM,  AXD  REIXA  MARTIX,  BELASCO,  ABOUT  1865 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      23 

and  Belasco  is  not  one  of  them.  His  recollections 
of  his  boyhood  and  specially  of  his  early  associa 
tion  with  the  Theatre  in  San  Francisco  are  some 
times  interesting  and  in  a  general  way  authentic, 
and  certainly  they  are  believed  by  him  to  be  invari 
ably  correct;  but  careful  research  of  San  Francisco 
newspapers  of  the  period  implicated,  and  of  other 
records,  discovers  that  frequently  they  are  hazy, 
confused,  and  erroneous.  "He  who  has  not  made 
the  experiment,"  says  Dr.  Johnson,  "or  is  not  accus 
tomed  to  require  rigorous  accuracy  from  himself, 
will  scarcely  believe  how  much  a  few  hours  take 
from  certainty  of  knowledge  and  distinctness  of 
imagery."  How  much  more  must  the  lapse  of  many 
years  take  from  memory!  According  to  Belasco's 
recollection,  his  first  formal  appearance  on  the  San 
Francisco  Stage  was  made  while  he  was  yet  a  pupil 
at  the  Lincoln  Grammar  School  in  that  city,  when 
Mary  Wells  (Mrs.  Richard  Steeples,  1829-1878)  was 
(as  he  alleges)  filling  an  engagement  at  the  Metro 
politan  Theatre,  in  a  play  called  "The  Lioness  of 
Nubia."  Mary  Wells  was  an  English  actress,  well 
known  and  much  respected  on  the  New  York  Stage 
about  fifty  years  ago.  She  made  her  first  appear 
ance  in  this  country  at  Albany,  in  1850,  and  in 
1856  she  appeared  at  Laura  Keene's  Theatre,  New 
York,  as  Mme.  Deschapelles,  in  "The  Lady  of 


24      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Lyons."  She  did  not  figure  as  a  star:  her  "line" 
was  old  women:  there  is  no  record  of  her  appear 
ance  at  the  Metropolitan  Theatre,  nor  of  her 
appearance  anywhere  in  San  Francisco,  until  April 
4,  1874,  when  she  acted  with  "The  Lingard  Com 
bination,"  at  the  Opera  House  (opened  as  Shiels' 
Opera  House),  playing  Mme.  Dumesnil,  in  an  Eng 
lish  translation  of  Octave  Feuillet's  "La  Tenta- 
tion."  There  is,  moreover,  no  play  entitled  "The 
Lioness  of  Nubia."  There  is,  however,  a  play  called 
"The  Lion  of  Nubia,"  and  there  was  an  actress, 
of  the  soubrette  order,  named  Minnie  Wells,  who 
appeared  in  that  play  at  the  Metropolitan  Theatre, 
December  16,  1872,  acting  the  central  part,  Harry 
Trueheart.  The  play  was  billed  as  "The  Great 
Eastern  Sensational  Military  Drama,  'The  Lion  of 
Nubia,'  introducing  Banjo  Solos,  Banjo  Duets,"  etc. 
This  play  was  thus  advertised  in  San  Francisco 
newspapers,  December  16  to  22,  1872.  John  R. 
Woodard  and  Frank  Rea,  both  of  whom  Belasco 
specifies  as  having  been  in  the  performance  he  sup 
poses  to  have  been  given  by  "Mary  Wells,"  were 
members  of  the  company  supporting  Minnie  Wells  at 
the  Metropolitan  in  December,  1872,  and  it  was  with 
the  latter  and  in  "The  Lion  of  Nubia"  that  Belasco 
made  the  appearance  which  he  has  misremembered 
and  inadvertently  misstated  in  his  published  "Story." 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      25 

The  part  that  he  played,  Lieutenant  Victor,  was 
practically  that  of  a  super.  He  was  billed  on  that 
occasion  as  "Walter  Kingsley,"  the  name  of  the 
circus  clown  who  had  befriended  him  in  his  child 
hood.  It  was  a  common  expedient  of  the  time  for 
actors  to  adopt  names  not  theirs  when  embarking 
on  a  theatrical  career,  and  it  pleased  Belasco,  for 
no  special  reason  beyond  a  boyish  whim,  to  do  like 
wise.  He  used  the  name  of  Walter  Kingsley  for  a 
little  while,  but  his  doing  so  distressed  his  mother 
and  therefore  he  presently  dropped  it  and  wisely 
reverted  to  his  own.  In  the  early  records  that  I 
have  found  it  generally  appears  as  "D.  Belasco," 
and  often  various  superfluous  initials  are  inserted 
through  compositors'  errors.  Belasco's  account  of 
the  appearance  with  Miss  Wells,  as  given  to  me, 
specifies  that  he  had  one  line  to  speak,  which  was 
"Perhaps  the  stress  of  the  weather  has  driven  them 
further  up  the  coast";  that  his  schoolmates,  in  large 
number,  were  in  the  gallery;  that  his  appearance 
was  hailed  by  them  with  applause;  that  they  clamor 
ously  demanded  he  should  recite  "The  Maniac"; 
that  their  boisterous  behavior  interrupted  the  per 
formance  and  annoyed  the  actress,  and  that  she 
caused  Woodard  to  discharge  him. 

It  certainly  is  true  that  Belasco  was  carried  on 
the  stage,  in  childhood,  at  Victoria,  that  later  he 


26      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

there  "went  on"  for  the  little  Duke  of  York,  in 
"King  Richard  III.,"  with  Charles  Kean, — as  pre 
viously  mentioned, — and  that  he  made  informal 
appearances,  as  declaimer  and  as  super,  in  the  thea 
tres  of  San  Francisco,  while  yet  a  schoolboy, — all 
those  juvenile  essays  being  cumulative  toward  his 
final  embarkation  on  the  career  of  actor,  dramatist, 
and  theatrical  manager:  thus,  on  December  20,  1868, 
he  participated  in  a  public  entertainment,  given 
at  Lincoln  Hall,  by  pupils  of  the  Lincoln  Grammar 
School,  reciting  "The  Banishment  of  Catiline"  and 
"The  Maniac"  (the  latter  a  recitation  he  was  often 
called  on  to  make  and  with  which,  at  one  time  or 
another,  he  won  several  prizes) ;  in  the  "Catiline" 
recital  he  appeared  in  a  costume  comprising  his 
father's  underdrawers  and  undershirt  and  a  toga 
of  cheap  cloth.  On  November  24,  1869,  he 
appeared,  for  a  night  or  two,  with  Mme.  Marie 
Methua-Scheller  (18 — 1878),  at  Maguire's  Opera 
House,  as  one  of  the  newsboys,  in  Augustin  Daly's 
"Under  the  Gas-Light,"  and  in  the  course  of  that 
performance  he  played  on  a  banjo  and  danced:  on 
November  27  he  "went  on,"  at  the  same  theatre, 
as  an  Indian  Brave,  in  a  presentment  by  Joseph 
Proctor  (1816-1897)  of  "The  Jibbenainosay."  "I 
was  much  too  small,"  he  told  me,  "but  Proctor  kept 
me  because  I  gave  such  fine  warwhoops."  On 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      27 

March  17,  1871,  at  the  Metropolitan  Theatre,  he 
assumed  the  character  of  an  Indian  Chieftain,  in 
"Professor  Hager's  Great  Historical  Allegory  and 
Tableaux,  'The  Great  Republic/ '  which  prodigy 
was  performed  by  a  company  of  "more  than  400 
young  ladies  and  gentlemen"  of  various  schools 
in  the  city,  and  for  the  benefit  of  those  schools:  it 
was  several  times  exhibited:  in  the  Second  Part 
thereof  he  personated  War.  On  June  2,  follow 
ing,  he  figured  prominently  in  "competitive  declama 
tions"  given  at  Platt's  Hall,  by  pupils  of  the  Lin 
coln  School,  and  also  in  an  amateur  theatrical  per 
formance,  on  the  same  occasion,  appearing  as  High 
flyer  Nightshade,  in  "The  Freedom  of  the  Press." 
Hager's  "The  Great  Republic"  was  a  pleasing 
entertainment  of  its  kind,  and,  after  the  close  of 
the  Lincoln  School,  Hager  arranged  to  give  it  in 
Sacramento,  and  obtained  permission  to  take  with 
him  to  that  city  young  Belasco  and  his  friend, 
James  O.  Barrows,  who  were  considered  the 
bright  particular  stars  of  the  performance.  They 
appeared  there,  in  the  "Allegory,"  April  15,  1871, 
"for  the  benefit  of  the  Howard  Association."  "I 
consider  Professor  Hager  to  have  been  my  first  man 
ager,"  says  Belasco, — why,  I  do  not  know. 

On  August  23,  1869,  Lotta  (Charlotte  Crabtree, 
whom  John  Brougham  described  as  "the  dramatic 


28      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

cocktail")  acted,  for  the  first  time  in  San  Fran 
cisco,  Fire-Fly,  in  a  play  of  the  same  name  by 
Edmund  Falconer,  based  on  Ouida's  novel  of 
"Under  Two  Flags."  She  was,  then  and  later, 
exceedingly  popular  in  it.  Belasco  and  other  stage- 
smitten  youths  organized  an  amateur  theatrical  asso 
ciation,  called,  in  honor  of  the  elfin  Lotta,  "The 
Fire-Fly  Social  and  Dramatic  Club."  As  a  member 
of  that  association  Belasco  played  several  parts. 
On  June  22,  1871,  he  appeared  with  other  fire-flies, 
at  Turnverein  Hall  (Bush  Street,  near  Powell), 

in  Sutter's  drama  of  "A  Life's  Revenge; 

or,  Two  Loves  for  One  Heart," — acting  Fourne- 
chet,  Minister  of  Finance.  "The  San  Francisco 
Figaro,"  noting  this  entertainment  (the  fifth  given 
by  the  "Fire-Flies"),  remarked,  "Among  those  who 
will  take  part  in  its  representation  is  David  Belasco, 
his  first  appearance  in  leading  business";  and  in 
a  review  of  the  performance  a  critical  writer  in 
the  same  paper  recorded  that  "David  Belasco  dis 
played  much  power." 

AN    EARLY    FRIEND.— W.    H.    SEDLEY-SMITH. 

Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  California  Theatre 
(1869)  Belasco,  who  attended  every  theatrical  per 
formance  to  which  he  could  gain  admission,  had  the 
good  fortune  to  meet  John  McCullough,  and,  pleas- 


From  an  old  photograph.  Author's  Collection. 

WILLIAM    HENRY    SEDLEY-SMITH 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      29 

ing  that  genial  actor,  he  was  from  time  to  time 
employed  to  hear  him  say  the  words  of  parts  which  he 
was  committing  to  memory.  In  this  way,  by  McCul- 
lough's  favor,  he  was  enabled  to  see  many  perform 
ances  at  the  California,  sometimes  from  a  gallery 
seat,  sometimes  from  the  stage,  and  in  this  way, 
also,  he  chanced  to  make  another  auspicious  acquaint 
ance,  that  of  the  sterling  old  actor  William  Henry 
Sedley-Smith,  who  took  a  strong  fancy  to  Belasco, 
perceiving  his  native  ability,  talked  with  him,  became 
genuinely  interested  in  the  romantic,  enthusiastic 
lad,  and  gave  him  valuable  advice,  encouragement, 
and  assistance. 

To  the  present  generation  of  playgoers  that  vet 
eran  actor  has  ceased  to  be  even  a  name  (the  present 
generation  of  playgoers  being,  according  to  my 
observation  of  it,  specially  remarkable  for  its  vast 
and  comprehensive  ignorance  of  theatrical  history), 
but  in  other  years  his  name  was  one  to  conjure  with, 
and  to  the  few  persons  extant  who  cherish  memories 
of  our  Stage  in  the  eighteen-fifties  it  recalls  a 
delightful  reality.  There  are  players  whose  indi 
viduality  is  so  vital,  so  redolent  of  strength  and  joy, 
that  the  idea  of  death  is  never  associated  with  them. 
Like  great  poetic  thoughts,  they  enjoy  an  immortal 
youth  in  the  imagination,  and  to  hear  that  they  are 
dead  is  to  suffer  the  shock  of  something  seeming 


80      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

strange  and  unnatural  as  well  as  grimly  sad.  Such 
an  actor  was  Sedley- Smith.  Robust,  rosy,  stately, 
with  a  rich,  ringing  voice,  a  merry  laugh,  and  a 
free  and  noble  courtesy  of  demeanor,  he  lives  in  my 
remembrance  as  a  perfect  incarnation  of  generous 
life, — glad  in  its  strength  and  diffusive  of  gladness 
and  strength  all  around  him.  His  talents  were 
versatile.  He  played  all  parts  well  and  in  some  he 
was  superlatively  excellent.  There  has  been  no  Sir 
Oliver  Surface  on  the  modern  Stage  to  be  compared 
with  his.  It  came  upon  the  duplicity  and  foul  senti- 
mentalism  of  the  scheming  Joseph  like  a  burst  of 
sunshine  on  a  dirty  fog,  and  the  gladness  that  it 
inspired  in  the  breast  of  the  sympathetic  spectator 
was  of  the  kind  that  brings  tears  into  the  eyes.  The 
man  who  inspired  the  personation  was  felt  to  be 
genuine — a  type  of  nature's  nobility.  His  Old  Dorn- 
ton,  in  "The  Road  to  Ruin,"  was  a  stately,  pathetic 
type  of  character,  animated  by  what  seems,  after 
all,  the  best  of  human  emotions, — paternal  love.  He 
could  impart  an  impressive  dignity  even  to  the  fur- 
trimmed  anguish  of  the  sequestered  Stranger. 

Sedley- Smith's  professional  career  covered  a 
period  of  more  than  fifty  years.  He  began  at  the 
foot  of  the  ladder  and  he  mounted  to  a  pinnacle  of 
solid  excellence  and  sound  repute.  He  was  born, 
December  4,  1806,  near  Montgomery,  in  Wales. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      31 

His  father  was  an  officer  in  the  British  Army  and 
was  killed  in  battle  in  one  of  the  engagements,  under 
Wellington,  of  the  Peninsular  War.  His  father's 
brother,  also  a  soldier,  fought  at  Waterloo,  was 
twice  wounded  there,  and  became  a  Knight  Com 
mander  of  the  Bath.  It  will  be  seen  that  this  actor 
had  an  ancestry  of  courage  and  breeding.  He  was 
a  posthumous  child,  and  the  widowed  mother  mar 
ried  again, — thus,  unwittingly,  imposing  on  her  boy 
the  misfortune  of  an  unhappy  home.  The  stepfather 
and  the  child  were  soon  at  variance.  One  day,  the 
lad  being  only  fourteen  years  old,  a  contention 
occurred  between  them,  which  ended  in  his  being 
locked  into  his  chamber.  At  night  he  got  out  of  a 
window  and  escaped,  leaving  home  forever.  To  earn 
his  living  he  joined  a  company  of  strolling  players, 
and  to  avoid  detection  and  recapture  he  adopted  the 
name  of  Smith,  by  which  name  he  was  ever  after 
professionally  known,  though  in  private  affairs  he 
used  his  true  name,  Sedley. 

The  early  part  of  his  career  was  full  of  vicissitude 
and  trouble.  He  was  not  one  of  those  dreamers 
who  think  themselves  commissioned  to  clutch  at  a 
grasp  that  proficiency  in  a  most  difficult  art  which 
scarcely  rewards  even  the  faithful  and  loving  labor 
of  a  lifetime.  He  chose  to  learn  his  profession  by 
study  and  work — and  he  did  so.  His  first  appear- 


32      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

ance  on  the  stage  was  made  at  Shrewsbury,  and  some 
of  his  earlier  successes  were  gained  at  Glasgow.  He 
came  to  America  in  1827  and  appeared  at  the  Wal 
nut  Street  Theatre,  Philadelphia,  as  Jeremy  Diddler, 
in  "Raising  the  Wind."  His  most  valuable  repute 
was  won  in  Boston,  where  he  first  appeared  in  1828, 
at  the  Tremont  Theatre,  as  Rolando,  in  "The  Honey 
moon."  In  1836  he  managed  Pelby's  National  Thea 
tre  in  that  city,  and  from  1843  to  1860  he  was  stage 
manager  of  the  Boston  Museum.  He  married, 
shortly  after  his  arrival  in  America,  Miss  Eliza 
Riddle  (1808?-1861),  in  her  time  one  of  the  most 
sparkling,  bewitching,  and  popular  performers  of 
Comedy  that  our  Stage  has  known.  His  first  per 
formance  in  New  York  occurred  at  the  Chatham 
Street  Theatre,  November  3,  1840,  when  he  acted 
Edgar  to  the  King  Lear  of  Junius  Brutus  Booth. 
The  public  also  saw  him  at  that  time  as  Laertes, 
Gratiano,  and  Marc  Antony.  His  last  professional 
appearance  in  New  York  was  made  at  the  Winter 
Garden,  May  6,  1865,  for  the  benefit  of  his  daughter, 
Mary  Sedley,  known  to  contemporary  playgoers  as 
Mrs.  Sol.  Smith.  Later,  he  went  to  San  Francisco, 
where  he  immediately  became  a  favorite — and  he 
deserved  his  favor  and  his  fame,  because  his  art  was 
intellectual,  truthful,  conscientious,  significant  with 
thought  and  purpose,  and  warm  with  emotion.  He 


CO 


I 


THE  LIFE  OF:  DAVID  BELASCO      33 

died,  in  San  Francisco,  January  17,  1872,  in  the 
sixty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  leaving  no  work  undone 
that  he  could  do  and  therefore  ending  in  the  fulness 
of  time.  He  was  acquainted  with  grief,  but  there 
was  one  sorrow  he  escaped, — he  never  knew  "how 
dull  it  is  to  pause." 

It  is  obvious  that  no  influence  could  have  been 
more  helpful  to  the  eager,  ingenuous,  stage-struck 
Belasco  than  that  of  this  sturdy,  experienced,  grand 
old  actor  and  director,  attracted  and  pleased  by  the 
fervor  of  a  schoolboy  seeking  ingress  to  the  Theatre. 
Belasco's  assurance  that  he  wrote  a  good  hand  when 
he  was  a  boy,  however  difficult  that  may  be  to  believe 
now,  is  correct  (I  have  independently  ascertained 
that  he  took  a  prize  for  penmanship  at  the  Lincoln 
School),  and  Smith, — who  was  stage  manager  of  the 
California  Theatre, — gave  him  odd  pieces  of  work 
to  do  making  fair  copies  of  prompt-books  of  plays 
produced  at  the  California,  and  also,  from  time  to 
time,  employed  him  to  "go  on"  in  the  mobs,  crowds, 
etc.  To  him  Belasco  confided  his  ambition  to  act 
Hamlet,  lago,  and  romantic  characters,  and  by  him 
he  was  advised  to  throw  away  ambition  of  that  kind, 
physical  exility  making  his  success  improbable  ("y°u 
would  need  to  be  a  head  taller,"  the  veteran  assured 
him),  and  to  devote  himself  to  what  are  termed 
"character  parts"  (miscalled  by  that  designation, 


34      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

every  part  being  a  character  part:  "eccentric"  is  the 
quality  really  meant)  and  the  study  of  stage  man 
agement.  If  Smith  had  lived  a  little  longer  Belasco 
probably  would  have  had  better  opportunity  at  the 
California  Theatre,  but  the  old  man  died  before  the 
youth  had  been  more  than  about  six  months 
embarked  on  his  professional  theatrical  career.  Nev 
ertheless,  he  owes  much  to  the  instruction  and  advice 
of  that  wise  and  kind  friend. 


ADOPTION    OF    THE    STAGE. 

Belasco's  actual  adoption  of  the  dramatic  calling 
as  a  means  of  livelihood,  as  nearly  as  the  fact 
can  be  determined,  occurred  on  July  10,  1871, 
near  the  close  of  his  eighteenth  year,  when 
he  acted  a  minor  part  in  a  play  called  "Help," 
by  Frederick  G Marsden,  which  was  pre 
sented  with  Joseph  Murphy  (1832-1915)  in  its 
central  part.  This  actor  had  been  for  some  time  a 
favorite  minstrel  and  variety  performer  in  San 
Francisco,  generally  billed  as  "Joe"  Murphy  (his 
real  name  was  Donnelly),  and  had  made  his  first 
appearance  in  this  play  of  "Help,"  May  8,  1871, 
at  Wood's  Museum,  New  York,  acting  Ned  Daly, 
an  Irish  comedy  character,  shown  under  several 
aliases  and  in  various  amusing  and  otherwise  effec- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      85 

tive  situations.  Murphy's  professional  associates  at 
the  Metropolitan,  among  whom  Belasco  was  thus 
launched  upon  actual  theatrical  employment,  were 
John  R.  Woodard,  J.  H.  Hardie,  J.  C.  McGuire, 
W.  C.  Dudley,  Frank  Rea,  H.  Swift,  George 
Hinckley,  R.  A.  Wilson,  J.  H.  Vinson,  Mrs.  F.  M. 
Bates  (mother  of  that  fine  actress  Blanche  Bates, 
so  widely  and  rightly  popular  in  our  time),  Mrs. 
Frank  Rea,  Sallie  A.  Hinckley,  Carrie  Lipsis,  Jen 
nie  Mandeville,  Susie  Soule,  and  Ada  Shattuck. 
Belasco,  at  first,  was  a  super,  but  later  he  was  pro 
vided  with  a  few  words.  His  school  days  had  now 
come  to  an  end,  and  from  the  time  of  his  appear 
ance  in  "Help"  he  continued,  irregularly  but  per 
sistently,  and  at  last  successfully,  in  the  service  of 
the  Theatre. 


BELASCO'S    THEATRICAL    NOVITIATE. 

Belasco  believes  that  soon  after  his  appearance 
with  Murphy,  in  "Help,"  he  was  associated  with 
the  Chapman  Sisters,  but  he  is  again  mistaken. 
Murphy  was  at  the  Metropolitan  in  July,  1872. 
There  is  no  record  of  an  appearance  of  the  Chap 
man  Sisters  there  between  that  time  and  March  5, 
1873,  on  which  latter  date  a  "Grand  Re-Opening 
of  the  Metropolitan  Theatre"  occurred,  under  the 


36      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

direction  of  John  Woodard.    That  "re-opening"  was 
announced  thus: 

"The  want  of  a  People's  Theatre  having  long  been  felt 
in  this  community,  the  management  has  determined  to 
present  their  patrons  a  First  Class  Theatre  with  First  Class 
Stars  and  a  First  Class  Company,  with  prices  of  admission 
placed  within  the  reach  of  all. 

PRICES  : 

Dress  Circle  .  >  .  >  .75  cents. 
Orchestra  .  .;  >  w  •  50  cents. 
Gallery  .  .  ...  ,.:  .  >  25  cents. 

"The  Talented  and  Beautiful  Chapman  Sisters  will 
appear  in  [H.  J.]  Byron's  splendid  burlesque,  'Little  Don 
Giovanni  ;  or,  Leperello  and  the  Stone  Statue.'  Performance 
to  begin  with  filci  on  Parle 


Belasco  was  a  member  of  the  Metropolitan  Com 
pany  at  that  time,  having  appeared  five  days  earlier, 
in  a  performance  by  way  of  "A  Grand  Compli 
mentary  Benefit  to  Marian  Mordaunt,"  with,  among 
others,  Alice  Harrison,  D.  C.  Anderson,  Owen 
Marlowe,  James  C.  Williamson,  Henry  Edwards, 
Henry  Courtaine,  John  Woodard,  and  Charles  E. 
Allen,  —  those  players  having  been  assembled  from 
several  companies.  The  bill  included  "A  Morning 
Call,"  "The  Colleen  Bawn,"  and  the  First  and  Sec 
ond  acts  of  "Darling."  Belasco,  on  the  occasion 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      37 

of  that  benefit,  played  Peter  Bowbells,  in  "The  Illus 
trious  Stranger."  In  the  opening  bill  of  the  Chapman 
Sisters,  "Little  Don  Giovanni,"  Belasco  acted  the 
First  Policeman.  Other  plays  in  which  the  Chap- 
mans  appeared  during  that  engagement  were  "Check 
mate,"  March  21;  "Schermerhorn's  Boy,"  April  2; 
"The  Wonderful  Scamp;  or,  Aladdin  No.  2,"  and 
"The  Statue  Lover,"  April  3;  "Pluto,"  April  15; 
and  "The  Beauty  and  the  Brigands."  In  those  plays 
Belasco  acted,  respectively,  Strale,  Reuben,  the 
Genius  of  the  Ring,  Peter  True,  the  First  Fury,  and 
Mateo,  the  Landlord.  "A  Kiss  in  the  Dark"  and  "A 
Happy  Pair"  were  also  played  at  the  Metropolitan 
at  this  time,  and  probably  he  appeared  in  them,  but 
I  have  not  found  specification  of  his  doing  so.  The 
Chapman  Sisters,  Blanche  and  Ella,  were  daughters 
of  an  English  actor,  Henry  Chapman  (1822-1865), 
and  were  handsome  and  proficient  players  of  bur 
lesque.  One  of  their  most  successful  vehicles  was 
"The  Gold  Demon."  Belasco  appeared  in  it  with 
them  (March  18,  1873),  as  Prince  Saucilita,  and 
made  up  and  played  in  imitation  of  a  local  eccen 
tricity,  known  as  "Emperor"  Norton.  His  per 
formance,  practically  a  caricature,  was  considered 
clever  and  it  elicited  considerable  commendation. 
"The  Figaro"  critic  wrote  of  him:  "D.  Belasco 
took  the  house  by  storm  with  his  make-up  for 


88      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

'Emperor'  Norton,  which  was  quite  a  feature  of 
the  piece."  Actors  have  often  exhibited  theatrical 
travesties  of  anomalous  individuals:  Samuel  Foote 
(1720-1777),  on  the  old  English  Stage,  frequently 
did  so:  sometimes  such  exhibitions  have  proved 
attractive  to  the  public  and  largely  remunerative: 
generally  they  are  trivial  and  contemptible.  Thomas 
D.  Rice  (1808-1860),  the  actor  who  carried  Joseph 
Jefferson,  as  a  child,  upon  the  stage,  in  1833, — the 
first  time  he  was  ever  seen  there, — gained  wealth 
and  popularity  by  copying  the  grotesque  behavior 
of  an  old  negro  named  "Jim"  Crow,  who  had 
been  a  slave  and  who  was  well  known  to  residents 
of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  about  1828-'29.  Edwin 
Booth,  in  his  novitiate,  made  a  "hit"  in  San  Fran 
cisco,  about  1852-'53,  by  imitating  a  local  notoriety 
named  Plume.  It  did  not,  however,  in  his  case, 
lead  on  to  fortune, — nor  did  it  in  that  of  young 
Belasco  as  "Emperor"  Norton.  His  remuneration 
was,  for  a  long  time,  extremely  small.  While 
employed  at  the  Metropolitan  Theatre  he  earned 
six  dollars  a  week,  extra,  by  copying  sets  of  the 
"parts"  of  plays,  for  the  use  of  actors, — work  done 
after  the  performance  at  night.  "I  wrote  a  beauti 
ful  hand  in  those  days,"  he  told  me;  "almost  like 
engraved  script, — though  perhaps  you  won't  believe 
it  now." 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      39 

A    THEATRICAL    VAGABOND. 

Belasco  was  fortunate  in  his  early  days  in  an 
acquaintance  with  an  actor  and  theatrical  agent, 
James  H.  McCabe,  who  loaned  him  many  old  plays, 
which  he  studied,  and  also  with  R.  M.  Edwards, 
a  representative  in  San  Francisco  of  Samuel  French, 
the  New  York  publisher  of  French's  Standard 
Drama,  etc.,  who  provided  him  with  opportunity 
to  augment  his  knowledge  of  theatrical  publications 
and  of  plays  in  manuscript.  McCabe  sometimes  pro 
cured  professional  employment  for  him,  but  his 
occupation  was  consistently  desultory.  He  trav 
ersed  the  Pacific  Coast,  to  and  fro,  during  several 
years,  with  various  bands  of  vagabond  players, 
gleaning  a  precarious  subsistence  in  a  wild  and 
often  dangerous  country,  going  south  into  Lower 
California  and  into  Mexico,  and  going  north  to 
Seattle  and  to  the  home  of  his  childhood,  Victoria. 
Sometimes  he  ventured  into  the  mountain  settle 
ments  and  mining  camps  of  the  inland  country, 
travelling  by  stage  when  it  was  possible  to  do  so, 
by  wagon  when  he  and  his  associates  were  lucky 
enough  to  have  one,  often  on  horseback  or  mule- 
back,  oftener  on  foot,  performing  in  all  sorts  of 
places  and  glad  and  grateful  for  anything  he  could 
earn.  His  account  of  that  period,  as  he  has  related 


40      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

it  to  me,  is  quite  as  replete  with  vicissitude,  hard 
ship,  squalor,  toil,  romance,  and  misery  as  are  the 
narratives  over  which  the  theatrical  student  muses, 
marvels,  and  saddens  when  reading  the  "Memoirs 
of  Tate  Wilkinson,"  Ryley's  "Itinerant,"  Charlotte 
Charke's  miserable  narrative,  or  the  story  of 
Edmund  Kean.  "Many  a  time,"  Belasco  has  told 
me,  "I've  marched  into  town,  banging  a  big  drum 
or  tooting  a  cornet.  We  used  to  play  in  any  place 
we  could  hire  or  get  into, — a  hall,  a  big  dining  room, 
an  empty  barn;  anywhere!  I  spent  much  of  my 
second  season  on  the  stage  (if  it  can  be  called  'on 
the  stage')  roaming  the  country,  and  in  that  way 
got  my  first  experience  as  a  stage  manager, — which 
meant  being  responsible  for  everything;  and  in  the 
years  that  followed  I  had  many  another  such 
engagement.  I've  interviewed  an  angry  sheriff 
'many  a  time  and  oft'  (the  sheriffs  generally  owned 
the  places  we  played  in),  or  an  angrier  hotel- 
keeper,  when  we  couldn't  pay  our  board.  I've  been 
locked  up  because  I  couldn't  pay  a  dollar  or  two 
for  food  and  a  bed;  I've  washed  dishes  and  served 
as  a  waiter;  I've  done  pretty  much  everything, 
working  off  such  debts;  and  sometimes  I've  had 
the  exciting  pleasure  of  running  away,  sometimes 
alone,  sometimes  with  others,  before  the  hotel- 
keeper  got  'on'  that  we  hadn't  money  enough  to 


From  au   old   photograph.  Bclasco's   Collection. 

DAVID    BELASCO 

About    1873-'75 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      41 

pay.  I  acted  many  parts  in  my  first  seasons  'on 
the  road' — among  them  Raphael,  in  'The  Marble 
Heart';  Mr.  Toodle,  in  the  farce  of  'The  Toodles'; 
Robert  Macaire,;  Hamlet;  Uncle  Tom;  Modus,  in 
'The  Hunchback';  Marc  Antony,  in  'Julius  Caesar'; 
Dolly  Spanker,  in  'London  Assurance';  Mercutio, 
and  scores  of  others  I  can't  instantly  call  to  mind." 
After  considerable  of  the  nomadic  experience 
thus  indicated,  Belasco,  returning  to  San  Francisco, 
obtained,  through  his  friend  McCabe,  an  engage 
ment  in  the  company  of  Annie  Pixley  (Mrs.  Robert 
Fulford,  1858-1893),  remembered  for  her  per 
formance  of  M'liss,  in  a  rough  melodrama,  by  Clay 
M.  Greene,  remotely  based  on  Bret  Harte's  ten 
derly  human  and  touching  story  bearing  that  name. 
For  Annie  Pixley  he  made  a  serviceable  domestic 
drama  on  the  basis  of  Tennyson's  "Enoch  Arden" 
(which  poem  had  been  published  in  1864),  and  he 
acted  in  it,  with  her,  as  Philip  Ray.  That  subject 
had  been  brought  on  the  stage  in  a  play  by  Mme. 
Julie  de  Marguerittes  (1814-1866),  in  which  Edwin 
Adams  gained  renown  as  the  unhappy,  heroic 
Enoch.  For  his  play  on  the  subject  Belasco 
received  from  Fulford  $25.  Later,  he  figured  as 
an  itinerant  peddler,  frequenting  fairs  at  various 
towns  in  the  neighborhood  of  San  Francisco.  In 
this  character  his  attire  comprised  a  black  coat  and 


43      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

trousers,  a  "stovepipe"  hat,  and  a  wig  and  whiskers. 
"I  used  to  buy  goods  on  credit,"  he  told  me,  "and 
take  them  along;  then  I  would  get  a  soap-box  or 
a  barrel  on  the  lot,  or  perhaps  on  a  corner,  and 
recite  until  I  had  a  crowd,  and  then  work  atten 
tion  'round  to  my  goods,  which  I  generally  managed 
to  sell  out." 


EMULATION    OF    WALTER    MONTGOMERY. 

Belasco,  in  his  youth,  entertained  an  admiration 
that  was  almost  idolatrous  for  Walter  Montgomery, 
an  American  actor  who,  coming  from  Australia, 
played  in  California  when  the  boy  was  about  seven 
teen  years  old.  His  spirit  of  emulation  was  fired  by 
the  extraordinary  efforts  which  were  put  forth  by  that 
fine  player  to  signalize  the  close  of  his  engagement 
in  San  Francisco.  On  the  night  of  June  17,  1870, 
supported  by  Barrett,  McCullough,  and  the  Cali 
fornia  Theatre  stock  company,  Montgomery  acted 
Shylock,  Romeo,  King  John,  Hotspur,  Hamlet,  Ben 
edick  and  King  Louis  the  Eleventh,  in  selected 
scenes  from  seven  plays.  On  the  next  night  he  acted 
Marc  Antony,  in  a  revival  of  "Julius  Caesar," — that 
being  his  last  appearance  in  California  as  an  actor. 
On  June  20  and  21  the  California  Theatre  was 
devoted  to  "Walter  Montgomery  in  His  Celebrated 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      43 

Royal  Recitals."     This  was  his  programme  on  the 
first  night: 


Seven  Ages ., "As  You  Like  It." 

Soliloquy  on  Death "Hamlet." 

Hubert  and  Arthur "King  John." 

Churchyard  Scene , "Hamlet." 

"The  Bridge  of  Sighs" Hood. 

"The  Bells" Poe. 

"The  Vulgar  Boy" Ingoldsby. 

"The  Bruce" John  Brougham. 

(Written  expressly  for  Mr.  Montgomery.) 
"Charge  of  the  Light  Brigade" Tennyson. 


On  the  second  night  he  gave: 

Polonms  to  his  Son "Hamlet." 

Wolsey's  Farewell "King  Henry  VIII." 

Dream  of  Clarence "King  Richard  III." 

Benedick's  Conversion "Much  Ado  About  Nothing." 

Brutus9  Oration "Julius  Caesar." 

Antony's  Oration "Julius  Caesar." 

"The  Raven" Poe. 

"Ben   Battle" Hood. 

"The  Bloomsbury  Christening" Dickens. 

As  soon  as  possible  after  seeing  Montgomery's 
remarkable  display  of  talent  and  versatility  Belasco 
began  to  give  public  recitals,  arranged  in  general 
upon  the  model  of  Montgomery's,  though  varied  to 
suit  his  own  requirements.  Chief  among  his  selec- 


44      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

tions  were  "The  Vagabonds,"  "The  Maniac,"  "Cur 
few  Must  Not  Ring  To-night,"  "Bernardo  del 
Carpio,"  Hubert's  scene  with  Prince  Arthur,  from 
"King  John";  Marc  Antony's  Oration,  and  Hamlet's 
Soliloquy  on  Death.  He  also  gave  imitations  of 
various  actors  well  known  to  the  California  public. 


A    ROMANTIC    COURTSHIP.— MARRIAGE. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1870  or  early  in  1871,  while 
giving  recitations  at  Platt's  Hall  and  elsewhere  in 
San  Francisco,  his  attention  was  attracted  by  an 
exceptionally  handsome  girl, — whom  he  has  described 
as  one  "all  compact  of  sweetness," — who  occupied 
a  front  seat  on  every  occasion  of  his  appearance. 
This  young  lady  (she  was  little  more  than  a  child, 
being  then  only  fifteen  years  old)  was  Miss  Cecilia 
Loverich.  After  some  time  he  was  fortunate  enough 
to  obtain  an  introduction  to  her,  at  a  private  house 
where  he  had  been  engaged  to  give  some  recitations, 
and  the  acquaintance  thus  formed,  and  earnestly 
pursued  by  the  romantic  youth,  soon  ripened  into 
a  serious  attachment.  "I  was  nobody,"  said  Belasco 
to  me,  "and  she  was  a  beauty,  of  wealthy  family, 
and, — young  as  she  was, — already  much  followed. 
I  did  not  have  much  hope  at  first;  but  I  didn't 
despair  altogether,  either.  If  I  was  only  a  strug- 


CECILIA    LOVERICH,    MRS.    DAVID    BELASCO 


a   photograph. 
)'s  Collection. 


'AVID  BELASCO 

Vagabonds  "Cur- 
Ring    To  s{0    del 
pio/'  J  from 
f  ohn" ;  Marc  Ant  !ct's 
Soliloquy  on  Death.     3  of 
various  actc              known  to  the  public. 


A    ROMAN  SHIP.~MARRIA< 

In  the  latter  in  1871,  while 

Nations  ai  here  in 

ted  by  an 
bed 
>ied 

•arance. 

,iild, 

Cecilia 

roe  he  >.  .  enough 

itroduction  to  her,  at  a  private  house 

-ecitations, 
rnestly 
;>ened  into 
nt. 

^y» 

!  lowed. 

didn't 

only  a  strug- 

OO8AJ38    QIVAQ    .eflM    .HDIW3VOJ    AIJID3D 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      45 

gling  beginner  on  the  stage,  a  sort  of  strolling 
spouter,  still  she  found  my  performances  worth  com 
ing  to  see,  over  and  over  again!"  The  lover's  suit 
was  not  impaired  by  the  fact  that  presently  he  suf 
fered  a  serious  physical  injury,  the  rupture  of  a  vein 
in  one  of  his  feet,  which  took  a  course  so  unfavorable 
there  was  danger  that  amputation  would  be  neces 
sary:  a  dark-haired,  pale,  dreamy-eyed,  romantic 
youth  sometimes  becomes  more  than  usually  interest 
ing  to  a  gentle,  compassionate  young  woman  when 
he  is  hurt  and  suffering.  Although  incapacitated 
for  several  weeks,  during  which  time  Miss  Loverich 
paid  him  many  delicate  attentions,  Belasco  finally 
recovered,  after  a  minor  operation, — though,  from 
his  account  of  this  episode,  I  surmise  he  came  near 
dying  under  an  anaesthetic.  For  a  while  he  was 
compelled  to  use  crutches,  but  ultimately  he  resumed 
his  professional  labor.  The  marriage  of  David 
Belasco  and  Cecilia  Loverich  was  solemnized,  August 
26,  1873,  at  the  home  of  his  parents,  No.  174  Clara 
Street,  San  Francisco, — Rabbi  Neustader  perform 
ing  the  ceremony.  At  that  time  the  actor  was 
employed  at  Shiels'  Opera  House:  during  about  a 
year  after  their  marriage  his  wife  travelled  with  him 
on  some  of  his  various  barnstorming  expeditions — 
and  that  was  the  happiest  experience  of  his  life. 
The  engagement  of  the  Chapman  Sisters  at  the 


46      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Metropolitan  Theatre  was  ended  on  April  27,  1873, 
with  a  representation  of  "Cinderella"  (produced 
there  April  23), — in  which  Belasco  probably  par 
ticipated, — that  being  the  last  regular  theatrical 
performance  given  there.  During  several  weeks 
immediately  sequent  to  that  event  Belasco  travelled 
with  the  Chapman  Sisters,  under  the  management 
of  Woodard,  playing  in  Sacramento  (May  3)  and 
in  many  other  California  and  Pacific  Coast  cities 
and  towns.  By  about  the  middle  of  June,  how 
ever,  he  had  returned  to  San  Francisco;  and,  not 
being  able  to  obtain  immediate  employment  in  the 
theatres,  he  worked  for  about  two  months  as 
amanuensis  for  an  old  actor,  James  H.  Le  Roy, 
who  had  turned  his  attention  to  playwrighting.  On 
June  30  Belasco  was  present  at  the  opening  of 
Shiels'  Opera  House  (afterward  the  Opera  House, 
Gray's  Opera  House,  etc.),  when  Bella  Pateman 
(1844-1908)  made  her  first  appearance  in  San 
Francisco, — acting  Mariana,  in  "The  Wife,"  with 
Frank  Roche  as  Julian  St.  Pierre  and  A.  D.  Billings 
as  Antonio.  "They  did  three  or  four  more  plays  at 
Shiels',— 'The  Marble  Heart,'  'The  Lady  of  Lyons,' 
and  other  well-worn  old  pieces," — so  Belasco  has  said 
to  me;  "but  the  business  was  light  and  they  needed 
a  novelty.  I  had  mentioned  Wilkie  Collins'  'The 
New  Magdalen'  [published  that  year]  to  Le  Roy 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      47 

as  containing  good  material  for  a  play  and  he 
had  bought  a  copy  of  the  book  and  begun  to  make 
a  dramatization.  He  told  Miss  Pateman  about  it 
and  when  she  agreed  that  it  would  make  a  fine 
play  for  her  he  hastened  his  work,  dictating  to  me, 
and  it  was  brought  out  soon  afterward."  Le  Roy's 
"dramatization"  of  Collins'  novel  was  produced  at 
Shiels'  Opera  House  on  July  14,  1873,  and  it  was 
the  first,  or  one  of  the  first,  stage  adaptations  of 
the  story  to  be  acted  in  America:  piratical  versions 
of  it  eventually  became  so  numerous  that,  at  one 
time,  they  could  be  bought  for  $10!  Collins,  in  the 
disgraceful  state  of  American  copyright  law  at 
that  time,  was  helpless  to  prevent  what  he  designated, 
in  writing  to  me,  as  the  "larcenous  appropriation  of 
my  poor  'Magdalen.' '  As  illustrating  the  practical 
value  of  priority  in  such  matters  and  an  injury  often 
inflicted  on  authorship,  it  is  significant  to  recall  that 
Le  Roy's  scissored  version  of  the  novel  and  Miss 
Pateman's  performance  in  it  were  much  preferred, 
in  San  Francisco,  to  the  drama  made  by  Collins, 
as  it  was  acted  there,  at  the  California  Theatre,  by 
Carlotta  Leclercq  (1838-1893),  September  22,  1873. 
— This  was  the  cast  of  the  principal  parts  at  Shiels': 

Rev.  Julian  Gray.  ....... Frank  Roche. 

Horace  Holmcroft Charles  Edmonds. 

Surgeon  Ignatius  Wetzel .... A.  D.  Billings. 


48      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Lady  Janet  Roy .Mrs.  Charles  Edmonds. 

Grace  Roseberry .  .  .  ., ,.  ... Jean  Clara  Walters. 

Mercy  Merrick.  . .  ...  ...  ... Bella  Pateman. 

Writing  about  the  production  of  Le  Roy's  "lar 
cenous  appropriation,'*  Belasco  has  said:  "When  it 
was  ready  it  represented  a  week  of  pasting,  cutting, 
and  putting  together.  ...  It  proved  to  be  one 
of  the  greatest  successes  San  Francisco  ever  had. 
.  .  .  As  for  the  actress,  Bella  Pateman,  she  was 
a  wonderful  woman  of  tears,  always  emotionally 
true,  and  she  became  the  idol  of  the  hour,  for  her 
Mercy  Merrick  showed  her  to  be  an  artist  of  great 
worth."  Miss  Pateman  was  an  accomplished  actress 
(her  professional  merit  was  much  extolled  in  con 
versation  with  me  by  both  Edwin  Booth  and  Law 
rence  Barrett),  and  she  became  an  exceptional  public 
favorite  in  San  Francisco.  Her  first  engagement  in 
that  city  continued  until  August  16,  and,  after  July 
14,  it  was  devoted  on  all  but  four  nights  to  repeti 
tions  of  "The  New  Magdalen." 

Belasco's  association  with  Le  Roy  brought  him 
into  contact  with  persons  influential  in  management 
of  Shiels'  Opera  House  and  he  was  fortunate  enough 
to  be  engaged  as  a  member  of  a  stock  company 
which  was  organized  to  succeed  Miss  Pateman  there. 
The  first  star  to  appear  with  that  company  was 
Joseph  Murphy,  in  a  revival,  made  August  18,  of 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      49 

"Maum  Cre,"  which  held  the  stage  for  one  week  and 
in  which  Belasco  acted  the  small  part  of  Bloater. 
On  August  25,  the  night  before  his  wedding,  he 
played  with  Murphy  as  Bob  Rackett,  in  "Help," 
and  on  September  1  as  Baldwin,  in  "Ireland  and 
America."  Murphy's  engagement  ended  September 
7.  The  next  night  Frederick  Lyster  made  his  first 
appearance  at  Shiels'  (of  which  A.  M.  Gray  had 
become  "sole  proprietor")  in  "The  Rising  Moon," 
and  I  believe  that  Belasco  played  in  it,  though  I 
have  not  found  a  record  of  his  doing  so.  On  Sep 
tember  10  Laura  Alberta  was  the  star,  in  "Out  at 
Sea,"  Belasco  playing  with  her  as  Harvey.  During 
the  next  six  weeks  he  acted  at  Shiels' — personating 
Sambo,  in  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  and  Major  Hersh- 
ner,  in  "Twice  Saved;  or,  Bertha  the  Midget,"  with 
Miss  Alberta;  Spada,  in  "The  Woman  in  Red,"  with 
Fanny  Cathcart,  and  Darley,  in  "Dark  Deeds,"  with 
Miss  Cathcart  and  George  Darrell.  Other  plays 
presented  at  Shiels'  during  the  period  indicated  in 
clude  "More  Blunders  Than  One,"  "Little  Katy;  or, 
The  Hot  Corn  Girl,"  "The  Stage  Struck  Chamber- 
Maid,"  "Man  and  Wife"  (Darrell's  version),  "The 
Mexican  Tigress,"  and  "Evenings  at  Home."  It 
is  probable  that  Belasco  appeared  in  all  or  most  of 
those  plays,  but  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  pro 
grammes  or  other  records  showing  that  he  did  so. 


50      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

On  October  18  he  participated  in  a  benefit  for  James 
Dunbar  at  Gray's  Opera  House  (that  name  was 
first  used  on  October  3),  playing  Mons.  Voyage,  in 
the  Third  Act  of  "Ireland  As  It  Was." 


THEATRICAL    LIFE    IN    VIRGINIA    CITY. 

After  his  employment  at  Gray's  Opera  House 
Belasco  obtained  an  engagement  with  John  Piper 
and  joined  the  theatrical  company  maintained  by 
that  manager  at  Piper's  Opera  House,  Virginia 
City,  Nevada,  at  that  time  one  of  the  most  dis 
orderly,  dissolute,  and  disreputable  towns  in  the 
United  States.  This  "Opera  House"  was  built  by 
Maguire,  in  1863,  and  did  not  become  known  as 
"Piper's"  till  several  years  later.  It  was  utilized 
for  all  kinds  of  public  meetings,  social  and  political, 
as  well  as  for  theatrical  performances,  and,  judging 
from  the  history  of  Nevada,  was,  in  early  days, 
most  noted  as  the  scene  of  prize  pugilistic  com 
bats.  Piper,  who  was  not  only  a  speculative 
manager,  but  also  a  hotel-keeper,  seems  like 
wise  to  have  been  a  shrewd,  hard,  unscrupulous 
person,  not,,  however,  devoid  of  rough  kindness. 
By  way  of  keeping  his  theatrical  company  well  in 
hand  he  pursued  the  ingenious  method  of  permit 
ting  its  members  to  run  into  debt  to  him,  to  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      51 

amount  of  $1,500,  and  then  withholding  their  sal 
aries,  thus,  practically,  making  them  prisoners  till 
they  had  worked  off  the  debt.  Charges  for  every 
thing  were  extortionate  in  Virginia  City  in  that 
period,  and  Piper  readily  succeeded  in  entangling 
his  actors,  and  he  made  it  exceedingly  difficult  for 
them  to  extricate  themselves.  "I  tried  to  run  away 
from  him,"  said  Belasco,  telling  me  this  story,  "but 
got  no  further  than  Reno,  where  the  sheriff,  a  'pal' 
of  his,  took  me  in  charge  and  'returned'  me  for 
the  debt!"  In  Virginia  City  he  saw  much  more 
of  that  lawlessness,  recklessness,  and  savagery  which 
had  already  colored  his  thoughts  and  served  to 
direct  his  mind  into  the  lurid  realm  of  sensation 
melodrama.  There,  also,  he  renewed  acquaintance 
with  various  actors  of  prominence  whom  he  had 
previously  met  in  the  course  of  his  wanderings,  and 
there  he  became  associated  with  other  performers, 
then  or  afterward  distinguished.  He  acted  many 
parts  under  Piper's  management,  among  them 
Buddicombe,  in  "Our  American  Cousin,"  when 
Edward  A.  Sothern,  as  Lord  Dundreary,  was  the 
star,  and  Don  Ccesar,  in  John  Westland  Mar- 
ston's  "Donna  Diana"  (published  1863),  a  drama 
based  on  a  Spanish  original  by  Augustin  Moreto 
(1618-1661),  which  was  presented  by  the  once 
famous  Mrs.  David  P Bowers  (1830-1895), 


52      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

an  actress  of  great  ability  and  charm,  whom  per 
sons  who  saw  her  in  her  best  days  do  not  forget. 
Belasco  remembers  having  acted  with  her,  either 
at  Virginia  City  or  elsewhere  in  the  West,  as  Maffeo 
Orsini,  in  "Lucretia  Borgia";  Charles  Oakley,  in 
"The  Jealous  Wife";  Richard  Hare,  in  "East 
Lynne,"  and  a  Page,  in  "Mary  Stuart,"  and  I  have 
heard  him  speak  of  her  with  an  ardor  of  admira 
tion  which  I  can  well  understand,  and  with  deep 
gratitude  for  kindness  shown  him  in  the  time  of 
his  necessitous  youth. 


DION    BOUCICAULT    AND    KATHARINE    RODGERS. 

Another  eminent  actor  whom  he  met  for  the 
first  time  at  Piper's  Opera  House, — according  to 
his  recollection,  in  the  Winter  of  1873, — was  Dion 
Boucicault  (1822?-1890),  who  appears  to  have  no 
ticed  him  as  a  youth  of  talent  and  promise  and  to 
have  treated  him  with  favor.  Boucicault  could 
ingratiate  himself  with  almost  any  person,  when 
he  chose  to  do  so,  and, — whenever  they  may  have 
met, — he  readily  won  the  admiration  of  young 
Belasco,  who  closely  studied  his  acting  and  the 
mechanism  of  his  plays,  and  whose  work,  as  a 
dramatist  and  a  manager,  has  been,  in  a  great 
degree,  moulded  by  his  abiding  influence.  Bouci- 


Photograph    by    Sarony. 


Belasco's   Collection. 


MRS.  D.  P.  BOWERS 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO       53 

cault,  while  in  Virginia  City,  employed  Belasco 
as  an  amanuensis,  and  (according  to  Belasco's 
recollection)  incidentally  dictated  to  him  a  part 
of  the  drama  of  "Led  Astray,"  a  fabric  which 
he  was  then  "conveying"  from  a  French  original, 
"La  Tentation,"  by  Octave  Feuillet  (1821-1890). 
That  play  was  first  presented  in  New  York,  at  the 
Union  Square  Theatre,  December  6,  1873,  with 
Rose  Eytinge  and  Charles  Robert  Thorne,  Jr.,  in 
the  leading  parts.  Another  important  player  with 
whom  Belasco  became  professionally  associated  in 
Virginia  City  was  Katharine  Rodgers,  a  remarkably 
clever  actress  and  fascinating  as  a  woman,  who  had 
gained  reputation  on  the  English  Stage  and  who 
came  to  America  with  Boucicault  and  for  some 
time  acted  under  his  direction,  in  "Mimi," — a  play 
that  he  made  for  her  use,  out  of  "La  Vie  de 
Boheme," — and  in  other  plays,  winning  much  pop 
ularity.  This  performer  had  been  the  wife  of  James 
Rodgers  (1826-1890),  a  genial,  respected  English 
actor,  long  associated  with  the  theatres  of  Man 
chester  and  Birmingham. 

CONFLICTIVE    TESTIMONY. 

I    have    made    scrupulous    inquiry    relative    to 
Belasco's  first  meeting  with  Boucicault    (an  event 


54      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

the  exact  date  of  which,  since  it  profoundly  in 
fluenced  his  career,  ought  to  be  established),  and, 
although  the  former  is  positive  that  his  memory  of 
the  occurrence  is  correct,  I  have  become  convinced 
that  he  has  much  confused  the  time  and  circum 
stances.  The  process  of  such  misremembrances  as 
this  of  Belasco's  is  neither  unusual  nor  difficult  to 
understand.  From  1873  to  1883  his  life  was  feverish 
with  activity.  During  that  period  he  certainly  met 
Boucicault,  in  Virginia  City,  and  was  there  associated 
with  him,  as  amanuensis.  When  "La  Tentation" 
and  Boucicault's  version  of  that  play,  called  "Led 
Astray,"  were  acted  in  San  Francisco  (April,  1874), 
Belasco  saw  them,  and,  like  many  other  persons 
associated  with  the  Theatre,  he  heard  much  of  the 
disputation  which  eddied  round  them.  Years  later, 
remembering  his  association  with  Boucicault,  in 
Virginia  City,  the  mistaken  impression  found  lodg 
ment  in  his  mind  that  it  was  "Led  Astray"  on 
which  the  elder  playwright  was  at  work  when  they 
became  acquainted,  and,  by  repetition  and  elabora 
tion,  that  erroneous  belief  has  become  fixed.  To  my 
objection  that  it  is  absolutely  impossible  that  Bouci 
cault  could  have  dictated  to  him  "Led  Astray" 
Belasco's  reply,  several  times  iterated,  is,  in  effect, 
that  Boucicault  was  working  on  the  play  "long 
before"  it  was  produced  in  New  York  and  that. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      55 

whether  possible  or  not,  he  is  "very  positive" 
Boucicault  did  dictate  it  to  him,  in  Virginia  City, 
during  a  blizzard.  It  would  not  be  just  to  Belasco, 
he  being  sure  that  his  recollection  of  this  affair  is 
absolutely  accurate,  to  assert  that  it  is  wholly  in 
correct  without  giving  his  explicit  statement  of  the 
incidents.  Therefore,  I  quote  it  here,  from  his 
"Story": 

"When  Boucicault  reached  Virginia  City,  he  was  under 
contract  to  deliver  a  play  to  A.  M.  Palmer,  of  New  York. 
'Led  Astray'  was  its  title.  But  his  writing  hand  was  so 
knotted  with  gout  that  he  could  scarcely  hold  a  pen. 
Boucicault  was  noted  for  being  a  very  secretive  man.  He 
would  never  have  a  secretary  because  he  feared  such  a  man 
might  learn  too  much  of  his  methods  of  work.  He  was  in 
the  habit  of  saying:  'I  can't  write  a  line  when  I  dictate. 
I  think  better  when  I  have  a  pen  in  my  hand.' 

"But  now  he  had  to  have  assistance  to  finish  'Led  Astray.' 
At  this  time  I  had  some  slight  reputation  as  a  stage  manager 
and  author.  In  those  days  everything  was  cut  and  dried, 
and  the  actor's  positions  were  as  determined  as  those  of  the 
pawns  on  a  chess-board.  But  whenever  an  opportunity 
offered  itself,  I  would  introduce  something  less  rigorous  in 
the  way  of  action,  much  to  the  disgust  of  the  older  players. 
Boucicault  must  have  heard  of  my  revolutionary  methods, 
for  he  sent  me  a  message  to  come  and  see  him  and  have  a 
chat  with  him.  With  much  perturbation,  I  went  to  his  hotel 
and  knocked  on  his  door. 

"  'They  tell  me  you  write  plays,'  he  began.  Then  followed 
question  after  question.  He  tested  my  handwriting,  he 


56      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

commented  on  certain  stage  business  he  had  heard  me  suggest 
the  day  before;  then  he  said  abruptly: 

"  'I  want  you  to  take  dictation  for  me, — I'm  writing  a 
play  for  the  Union  Square  Theatre, — you  have  probably 
heard  of  the  manager,  A.  M.  Palmer, — at  one  time  a  librarian, 
but  now  giving  Lester  Wallack  and  Augustin  Daly  a  race 
for  their  lives.  I  hope,  young  man,  you  can  keep  a  secret; 
you  strike  me  as  being  "still  water."  Whatever  you  see,  I 
want  you  to  forget.' 

"So  I  sat  at  a  table,  took  my  coat  off  and  began  Act  One 
of  'Led  Astray.'  Boucicault  lay  propped  up  with  pillows, 
before  a  blazing  fire,  a  glass  of  hot  whisky  beside  him.  It 
was  not  long  before  I  found  out  that  he  was  the  terror  of 
the  whole  house.  If  there  was  the  slightest  noise  below  stairs 
or  in  the  street,  he  would  raise  such  a  hubbub  until  it  stopped 
that  I  had  never  heard  the  like  of  before. 

"Whenever  he  came  to  a  part  of  the  dialogue  requiring 
Irish,  I  noticed  how  easily  his  dictation  flowed.  When  he 
reached  a  dramatic  situation,  he  acted  it  out  as  well  as  his 
crippled  condition  would  allow.  One  thing  I  noticed  par 
ticularly:  he  always  held  a  newspaper  in  his  hand  and  gave 
furtive  glances  at  something  behind  it  I  was  not  supposed 
to  see.  I  was  determined,  however,  to  know  just  what  he 
was  concealing  from  me. 

"The  opportunity  came  one  morning  when  he  was  called 
out  of  the  room.  Before  he  went,  I  noted  how  careful  he 
was  to  place  a  newspaper  so  that  it  completely  hid  the  thing 
under  it.  I  went  quickly  to  the  table,  and,  turning  over  the 
pages,  I  found  a  French  book,  'La  Tentation,'  from  which 
the  entire  plot  of  'Led  Astray'  was  taken.  In  those  days, 
authors  did  not  credit  the  original  source  from  which  they 
adapted.  But  Boucicault  was  more  than  an  adapter — he 
was  a  brilliant  and  indefatigable  slave,  resting  neither  night 


I'hotograph  by   Sarony. 


Belasco's    Collection. 


DION  BOUCICAULT 
"THE   MASTER  OF  THE   REVELS' 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      57 

nor  day.  There  is  no  doubt  that  even  though  he  adapted, — in 
accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  time, — he  added  to  the 
original  source,  making  everything  he  touched  distinctly  his 
own.  He  left  everything  better  than  he  found  it;  his  pen 
was  often  inspired,  and  in  spite  of  his  many  traducers,  he 
was  the  greatest  genius  of  our  Theatre  at  that  time. 
Boucicault  was  a  master  craftsman.  ." 


I  am  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the  play  of 
which  Boucicault  actually  did  dictate  a  part  to 
Belasco,  during  the  early  days  of  their  acquaintance, 
in  Virginia  City,  is,  perhaps,  "Forbidden  Fruit," — 
which  was  derived  from  a  French  original,  and 
which  was  first  produced  at  Wallack's  Theatre, 
October  3,  1876:  it  is,  however,  to  be  remem 
bered  that  there  is  an  Irish  character, — a  kind  of 
Sir  Lucius  O'Tn^er-turned-blackguard,  who  is 
designated  Major  O'Hara, — in  "Led  Astray." 
Nevertheless,  as  to  Belasco's  reminiscence  of  the 
writing  of  that  play,  I  am  convinced  that,  though 
interesting,  it  is  wholly  apocryphal;  the  following 
is  a  summary  of  my  reasons  for  so  believing: 

Belasco  did  not  make  his  first  appearance  with 
Minnie  Wells,  at  the  Metropolitan  Theatre,  San 
Francisco,  until  December  16,  1872,  and,  of  course, 
his  meeting  with  Boucicault  could  not  have  pre 
ceded  that  date.  Boucicault,  moreover,  and  his 
wife,  the  beautiful  Agnes  Robertson,  were  absent 


58      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

from  this  country,  according  to  my  records,  for 
about  twelve  years  preceding  1872.  In  the  Fall 
of  that  year  they  returned  to  America,  and,  on 
September  23,  they  reappeared  together,  at  Booth's 
Theatre,  New  York,  in  "Arrah-na-Pogue."  They 
acted  there  until  November  16,  and  then  made  a 
tour  through  various  cities  of  the  country,  but,  as 
far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  they  did  not 
go  west  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  Boucicault  reap 
peared  in  New  York,  at  Booth's  Theatre,  March  17, 
1873,  acting,  for  the  first  time  anywhere,  Daddy 
O'Dowd,  of  which  part  he  gave  truly  a  great  im 
personation  and  on  which  he  had  been  at  work 
during  all  his  tour.  His  engagement  at  Booth's 
lasted  until  May  10.  From  that  date  to  the  latter 
part  of  August  Boucicault  was  in  New  York, — 
except  when  he  visited  the  ingratiating  but  false 
hearted  William  Stuart  (Edmund  C.  O'Flaherty, 
1821-1886),  at  New  London,  Connecticut.  During 
that  period  he  was  actively  engaged  on  many  proj 
ects, — the  completion,  rehearsal,  and  presentment 
of  "Mora,"  which  was  brought  out  at  Wallack's 
Theatre,  June  3,  and  of  "Mimi,"  produced  there 
on  July  1;  the  writing  of  other  plays,  and  business 
negotiations  relative  to  the  building  and  opening  of 
Stuart's  Park  Theatre,  which,  originally,  was  in 
tended  for  his  use.  (Stuart,  after  many  postpone- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEL  AS  CO      59 

merits,  opened  it,  April  15,  1874,  presenting  Charles 
Fechter  in  "Love's  Penance.")  On  August  28, 
1873,  Boucicault  began  an  engagement  at  Wallack's 
Theatre,  acting  in  "Kerry"  and  "Used  Up."  A  few 
days  later  he  broke  down  and  went  to  New  London 
to  rest.  On  September  16,  that  year,  in  company 
with  me,  among  others,  he  attended  the  first  per 
formance  in  America  given  by  Tommaso  Salvini: 
I  talked  with  him  there — at  the  Academy  of  Music. 
On  December  6,  1873,  his  "Led  Astray"  was  pro 
duced,  for  the  first  time  anywhere,  at  the  Union 
Square  Theatre,  New  York.  I  was  present,  and  I 
saw  and  heard  Boucicault,  when  he  was  called  be 
fore  the  curtain,  and,  writing  in  "The  New  York 
Tribune,"  in  the  course  of  a  review  of  the  per 
formance,  I  recorded  the  following  comment: 

.  .  .  The  drama  comes  from  the  French  of  Octave 
Feuillet,  and  it  was  translated  l>y  Mr.  Boucicault.  Whoever 
wishes  to  see  with  what  an  assured  step  clever  authorship  can 
walk  on  ticklish  ground  may  behold  the  imposing  spectacle 
at  the  Union  Square  Theatre.  Mr.  Boucicault  was  called 
before  the  curtain  on  Saturday  night  by  vociferous  applause, 
both  at  the  end  of  the  Third  Act  and  at  the  end  of  the  play, 
and  in  the  speech  which  finally  he  made  he  told  his  auditors 
to  give  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  credit  for  whatever  pleasure 
they  had  received  to  his  friend  Octave  Feuillet.  Mr. 
Boucicault  was  also  understood  to  say  something  about  a 
projected  revival  of  Legitimate  Drama.  We  were  not  aware 


60      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

of  its  demise.  And,  even  if  it  were  dead,  we  fail  to  perceive 
how  Mr.  Boucicault  could  manage  to  effect  its  resuscitation 
by  the  translating  of  French  plays  of  very  doubtful  pro 
priety.  It  is  to  be  remembered,  though,  that  Mr.  Boucicault 
is  an  Irish  gentleman  and  loves  his  joke.  ...  In  this  we 
perceive  Mr.  Boucicault's  preeminent  skill.  Nevertheless, 
the  appearance  of  Octave  Feuillet's  name  upon  the  playbill 
would  be  noted  with  satisfaction.  Mr.  Boucicault  should  be 
aware  that,  by  lapses  of  this  kind,  he  arms  his  detractors 
and  is  unjust  to  himself.  .  .  . 

Boucicault  made  his  first  appearance  in  San 
Francisco,  at  the  California  Theatre,  on  January 
19,  1874  (the  bill  was  "Boucicault  in  California," 
— a  weak  sketch  written  for  the  occasion, — "Kerry," 
and  "Jones's  Baby"),  and  he  arrived  in  that  city, 
a  few  days  earlier,  not  from  Virginia  City,  but  from 
Canada. 

Belasco,  meantime,  was  not  established  in  Virginia 
City  between  December,  1872,  and  October,  1873: 
on  the  contrary,  during  most,  if  not  all,  of  that 
time  he  was  actively  engaged  in  San  Francisco  (see 
my  Chronology  of  his  life).  He  disappears,  how 
ever,  from  all  the  San  Francisco  records  which  I 
have  been  able  to  unearth  after  October  18,  1873, 
and  I  am  satisfied  that  he  then  went  to  Virginia 
City,  and  there,  several  months  later,  met  both 
Boucicault  and  Katharine  Rodgers,  when  they  were 
journeying  eastward:  Miss  Rodgers  first  acted  in 


From  an   old   photograph.  Belasco's   Collection. 

KATHARINE  RODGERS 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      61 

San  Francisco  on  February  3,  1874,  at  the  Cali 
fornia  Theatre,  in  "Mimi."  It  seems  obvious  that 
Boucicault  could  not  have  dictated  "Led  Astray" 
to  Belasco,  in  Virginia  City,  at  a  time  when  neither 
of  them  was  there,  and  after  that  play  had  been 
acted  in  New  York.  If  any  other  theatrical  an 
tiquary,  more  fortunate  than  I,  chances  to  possess 
authentic  records  that  show  Boucicault  and  Belasco 
in  conjunction,  in  Virginia  City,  prior  to  about 
November  1,  1873,  I  should  be  glad  to  learn  of 
them. 

VARIEGATED    EXPERIENCES. 

It  has  not  been  possible  to  elicit  an  entirely  satis 
factory  account  of  Belasco's  career  in  the  period 
extending  from  October  18,  1873,  to  about  the 
end  of  February,  1876.  In  particular,  it  has  been 
impossible,  notwithstanding  most  earnest  efforts,  to 
establish  the  sequence  of  incidents  of  his  experience 
in  Virginia  City.  Nevertheless,  much  that  occurred 
during  the  period  indicated,  nearly  two  and  one-half 
years,  has  been  ascertained  beyond  question,  and 
such  gaps  as  occur  in  the  records  have  been  supplied 
by  reasonable  surmise.  He  fulfilled,  in  all,  five 
engagements  in  Virginia  City,  and  three,  if  not 
four,  of  them  were  antecedent  to  "the  fire"  which, 
in  1875,  devastated  that  mountain  resort  of  licence 


62      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

and  crime.  Among  the  actors  with  whom  he  was 
most  closely  associated  in  Piper's  stock  company 
were  A.  D.  Billings,  George  Giddens,  Sydney 
Cowell  (Mrs.  Giddens),  George  Hinckley  (uncle 
of  Blanche  Bates),  and  Annie  Adams  (Mrs.  Kis- 
kaden,  1849-1916),  mother  of  Miss  Maude  Adams. 
The  period  of  his  first  employment  there  was  a 
trying  one  and  during  it  he  broke  down,  became 
seriously  ill,  and  was  lodged  for  a  time  in  the  home 
of  Piper,  where  his  illness  was  augmented  by  a  dis 
tressing  experience  with  an  unfortunate  demented 
woman,  the  wife  of  Piper.  Recalling  that  ordeal,  he 
has  said:  "Her  husband,  naturally,  felt  loath  to 
send  his  wife  to  the  Insane  Asylum  in  Stockton, 
so  he  had  some  rooms  padded  and  arranged  as 
comfortably  as  possible  for  her  in  his  own  house. 
I  was  ill  there  for  three  weeks,  and  my  room, 
unhappily,  was  within  calling  distance  of  Mrs. 
Piper's.  During  the  long  nights  I  could  hear  her 
groaning  and  crying  out, — not  a  very  encouraging 
atmosphere  for  one  who  was  himself  suffering,  and 
more  from  'nerves'  than  anything  else.  Then  one 
gray  dawn  I  awoke  to  find  Mrs.  Piper  standing 
at  the  foot  of  my  bed.  Apparently  she  was  as 
sane  as  any  one,  and  she  expressed  great  solicitude 
as  to  my  condition.  It  seemed  to  me  an  eternity 
as  she  stood  there,  though  in  reality  it  was  only 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      68 

about  five  minutes.  Suddenly  her  mood  changed. 
Tm  going  to  kill  some  one,'  she  screamed,  and 
made  a  lunge  for  me.  But,  luckily,  her  keeper, 
who  had  heard  her,  came  in  and  restrained  her, 
and  we  calmed  her  down  and  got  her  back  to  her 


own  rooms." 


Belasco's  financial  debt  to  Piper  must  have  been 
paid  or  compounded  on  or  about  March  1,  1874, 
and  his  engagement  in  Virginia  City  terminated. 
On  March  10,  that  year,  he  certainly  was  employed 
as  a  super,  at  the  California  Theatre,  on  the  occasion 
of  Adelaide  Neilson's  first  appearance  in  San  Fran 
cisco.  The  play  was  "Romeo  and  Juliet":  Lewis 
Morrison  acted  Romeo  and  Barton  Hill  Mercutio. 
Miss  Neilson's  engagement  (during  which  she 
played  Rosalind,  Lady  Teazle,  Julia,  in  "The 
Hunchback,"  and  Pauline,  in  "The  Lady  of 
Lyons,"  as  well  as  Juliet]  ended  on  March  30: 
Belasco,  whose  admiration  for  that  great  actress 
was  extreme,  contrived  to  be  employed  at  the  Cali 
fornia  Theatre  during  the  whole  of  it.  On  April 
4,  following,  "the  Entire  Lingard  Combination" 
appeared  at  the  Opera  House  (so  designated)  in 
an  English  version  of  Feuillet's  "La  Tentation," 
and  on  April  6  John  T.  Raymond  acted  at  the 
California  Theatre  as  Hector  Placide,  in  Bouci- 
cault's  version  of  the  same  play,  called  "Led 


64      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Astray."     Both  those  representations  were  seen  by 
Belasco. 

On  April  23  Raymond,  at  the  California,  pro 
duced,  for  the  first  time,  a  stage  synopsis  made  by 
Gilbert  S.  Densmore,  of  "The  Gilded  Age,"  by 
Samuel  L.  Clemens  and  Charles  Dudley  Warner. 
Writing  of  it,  Belaseo  says:  "While  that  play  was 
building  Densmore  talked  it  all  over  with  me.  As 
it  was  originally  written  it  was  in  five  long  acts 
and  had  in  it  a  curious  medley  of  melodrama. 
.  .  .  When  the  script  was  eventually  read  to  him 
[Raymond],  all  the  comment  he  made,  with  a  few 
of  those  choice  expletives  which  he  knew  so  well 
how  to  choose,  was  that  he  hated  all  courtroom 
scenes,  except  those  in  'The  Merchant  of  Venice' 
and  in  Boucicault's  'The  Heart  of  Midlothian/ 
...  It  was  in  this  frame  of  mind  that  he  was 
finally  persuaded  to  try  'The  Gilded  Age.'  Of 
course,  the  play  needed  a  lot  of  re-writing,  and  I 
don't  believe  any  one  really  thought  it  would  be 
successful.  It  was  put  on  as  a  try-out  because 
the  man  was  in  such  sore  need  of  a  vehicle,  and, 
like  so  many  other  plays  which  are  produced  as 
makeshifts,  it  soared  its  way  into  instant  popu 
larity.  It  was  not  by  any  means  a  wonderful  play 
in  itself,  it  was  merely  another  instance  of  the  per 
sonality  of  the  player  being  fitted  to  the  part,  and 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      65 

in  the  role  [sic]  of  Colonel  Mulberry  Sellers  John 
T.  Raymond  found  himself  and,  incidentally,  fame 
and  fortune." 

That  is  not  altogether  an  accurate  account  of  the 
dramatic  genesis  of  "The  Gilded  Age."  Dens 
more's  adaptation  of  the  book  was  piratical,  and 
Clemens,  hearing  of  it,  protested  vigorously,  by 
telegraph,  against  continuance  of  its  presentment. 
It  was  acted  only  once  in  San  Francisco,  in  1874. 
Densmore  finally  arranged  to  sell  his  stage  version 
to  Clemens,  and  that  author  himself  made  a  drama 
tization  of  the  novel.  Writing  about  it,  to  William 
Dean  Howells,  he  says: 

"I  worked  a  month  on  my  play,  and  launched  it  in 
New  York  last  Wednesday.  I  believe  it  will  go.  The 
newspapers  have  been  complimentary.  It  is  simply  a 
setting  for  one  character,  Colonel  Sellers.  As  a  play  I 
guess  it  will  not  bear  critical  assault  in  force."  In 
another  letter  Clemens  says:  "I  entirely  rewrote  the  play 
three  separate  and  distinct  times.  I  had  expected  to  use 
little  of  his  [Densmore's]  language  and  but  little  of  his 
plot.  I  do  not  think  there  are  now  twenty  sentences  of 
Mr.  Densmore's  in  the  play,  but  I  used  so  much  of  his 
plot  that  I  wrote  and  told  him  I  should  pay  him  about 
as  much  more  as  I  had  already  paid  him  in  case  the  play 
proved  a  success.  .  .  ." — Albert  Bigelow  Paine's  "Mark 
Twain,  a  Biography."  Volume  I.,  pp.  517-18. 


66      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

On  November  3,  1874,  Raymond  published  the 
following  letter: 

(From  John  T.  Raymond  to  "The  New  York  Sun") 
"The  Park  Theatre,  [New  York]. 

"November  2,  1874. 
"To  The  Editor  of  'The  Sun9: 
"Sir:— 

"An  article  headed  'The  Story  of  "The  Gilded  Age" '  in 
'The  Sun*  of  this  morning  calls  for  a  statement  from  me. 
The  facts  in  the  case  are  simply  these:  In  April  last  I 
commenced  an  engagement  in  San  Francisco.  A  few  days 
after  my  arrival  the  manager  of  the  theatre  mentioned  that 
Mr.  Densmore,  the  dramatic  critic  of  'The  Golden  Era,'  had 
dramatized  Mark  Twain's  and  Charles  Warner's  novel  of 
'The  Gilded  Age,'  and  would  like  to  submit  it  to  me.  I 
read  the  play,  and  the  character  of  Colonel  Sellers  impressed 
me  so  favorably  that  I  consented  to  produce  the  piece  the 
last  week  of  my  engagement.  I  did  so,  the  play  making  a 
most  pronounced  hit.  I  then  arranged  with  Mr.  Densmore 
for  the  right  to  perform  the  play  throughout  the  country. 
Upon  my  arrival  in  New  York  I  heard  that  Mr.  Clemens 
had  telegraphed  to  San  Francisco  protesting  against  the 
play  being  performed,  as  he  had  reserved  all  rights  in  his 
copyright  of  'The  Gilded  Age.'  I  at  once  recognized  Mr. 
Clemens'  claim,  and  wrote  to  Mr.  Densmore  to  that  effect. 
I  then  communicated  with  Clemens,  with  a  view  of  having 
him  write  a  play  with  Colonel  Sellers  as  the  chief  character. 
While  the  negotiation  was  pending  I  received  a  letter  from 
Mr.  Densmore,  requesting  me  to  send  the  manuscript  of  his 
dramatization  to  Clemens,  as  he  had  purchased  it,  and  that 
he  (Clemens)  had  acted  in  a  most  liberal  manner  toward 


From   a   photograph   by   Mora. 

JOHN  T.  RAYMOND 
(1836-1887) 


Belasco's    Collection. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      67 

him.  I  sent  the  manuscript  to  Mr.  Clemens,  but  not  until 
after  he  had  finished  his  play  and  read  it  to  me,  not  one 
line  of  Mr.  Densmore's  dramatization  being  used  in  the 
present  play,  except  that  which  was  taken  bodily  from  the 
novel  of  'The  Gilded  Age.'  These  are  the  facts  in  the 
premises.  Mr.  Densmore's  play  was  a  most  excellent  one; 
the  impression  it  made  in  San  Francisco  was  of  a  most 
pronounced  character,  but  in  no  way  [?]  does  it  resemble 
the  present  production,  which  is  entirely  the  work  of  Mr. 
Samuel  L.  Clemens  (Mark  Twain). 

"Yours,  &c., 

"John  T.  Raymond." 

Clemens'  "guess"  as  to  the  worth  of  his  work  as 
a  play  was  short  of  the  truth:  it  was  of  no  conse 
quence,  possessed  practically  no  merit  whatever, 
except  as  a  vehicle  for  the  actor.  [The  character 
of  Colonel  Sellers  is  presented  by  the  dramatist  in 
only  a  few  of  the  aspects  available  for  its  exposition 
and  is  attached  to  the  play  by  only  a  slender  thread, 
Raymond,  nevertheless,  by  means  of  thorough  per 
sonification,  made  the  character  so  conspicuous  that 
it  dominated  the  whole  action  of  the  play.  The 
common  notion  that  words  are  indispensable  to  the 
expression  of  character  is  unfounded.  Character 
shows  itself  in  personality,  which  is  the  emanation 
of  it,  and  which  finds  expression  in  countless  ways 
with  which  words  are  not  associated.  Personality 
was  the  potent  charm  of  Raymond's  embodiment  of 


68      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Colonel  Sellers, — a  personality  compounded  of  vig 
orous  animal  spirits,  quaintness,  rich  humor,  amia 
bility,  recklessness,  a  chronic  propensity  for  sport, 
a  sensitive  temperament,  and  an  ingenuous  mind. 
The  actor  made  the  character  lovable  not  less  than 
amusing,  by  the  spontaneous  suggestion  of  innate 
goodness  and  by  various  scarcely  definable  sweetly 
winning  traits  and  ways.  His  grave  inquiry  as  to 
the  raw  turnips,  "Do  you  like  the  fruit?"  was  irre 
sistibly  droll.  His  buoyant,  confident  ejaculation, 
— closing  each  discourse  on  some  visionary  scheme 
of  profit, — "There's  millions  in  it!"  (which  Ray 
mond's  utterance  made  a  byword  throughout 
America)  completely  expressed  the  spirit  of  the 
sanguine  speculator  and  was  not  less  potently 
humorous  because  of  a  certain  vague  ruefulness  in 
the  tone  of  it.  In  acting  Colonel  Sellers  Raymond 
did  something  that  was  new,  did  it  in  an  individual 
way,  was  original  without  being  bizarre,  and,  pos 
sessing  the  humor  which  is  akin  to  pathos,  he  could 
cause  the  laugh  that  is  close  to  the  tear. — W.W. 
in  "The  Wallet  of  Time."]  "The  Gilded  Age" 
was  first  acted  in  New  York,  September  16,  1874, 
at  the  Park  Theatre. 

At  about  the  time  of  the  first  San  Francisco 
production  of  "The  Gilded  Age"  Belasco  appears 
to  have  been  employed  by  William  Horace  Lingard, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      69 

and  it  is  practically  certain  that  he  was  a  member 
of  Lingard's  company, — though  I  have  not  ascer 
tained  in  what  capacity, — on  the  occasion  of  "the 
grand  opening  of  Maguire's  New  Theatre"  (which 
was  the  old  Alhambra  Theatre,  rebuilt  and  altered), 
on  May  4,  when  "Creatures  of  Impulse,"  "Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Peter  White,"  and  a  miscellaneous  entertain 
ment  were  presented  there. 

During  the  summer  of  1874  Belasco  worked  as  a 
secretary  and  copyist  for  Barton  Hill,  at  the  Cali 
fornia  Theatre,  and  also  he  performed,  in  a  minor 
position,  as  an  actor,  at  Maguire's  New  Theatre. 
He  was  thus  associated  with,  among  others,  Sallie 
Hinckley,  in  a  revival  of  "The  New  Magdalen"; 
Charles  Fechter  and  Lizzie  V.  Price  in  a  repertory 
which  comprehended  "Ruy  Bias,"  "Don  Caesar  de 
Bazan,"  "The  Lady  of  Lyons,"  "Hamlet,"  and 
"Love's  Penance";  Miss  Jeffreys-Lewis  and  Charles 
Edwards  in  "School,"  Boucicault's  "The  Willow 
Copse"  and  "The  Unequal  Match";  William  J. 
Coggswell  in  "Nick  o'  the  Woods";  Samuel  W. 
Piercy  in  "Hamlet,"  and  Charles  Wheatleigh  in  a 
dramatization  of  "Notre  Dame"  and  in  other  plays. 
For  Piercy  Belasco  has  ever  cherished  extreme 
admiration  and  a  pitiful  memory  of  his  untimely 
death,  which, — caused  by  smallpox, — befell,  in 
Boston,  in  1882.  During  the  summer  of  1874 


70      THE  LIFE  OE  DAVID  BELASCO 

Belasco  also  made  various  brief  and  unimportant 
"barnstorming"  ventures  in  small  towns  and  camps 
of  California,  Oregon,  and  Washington;  likewise, 
he  was  associated,  as  stage  director,  with  several 
groups  of  amateur  actors  in  San  Francisco.  On 
August  31  a  revival  of  Augustin  Daly's  play  of 
"Divorce"  was  effected  at  Maguire's, — James  A. 
Herne  (his  name  billed  without  the  "A.")  and  Miss 
Jeffreys-Lewis  playing  the  principal  parts  in  it. 
Whether  or  not  Belasco  was  then  in  the  company 
at  Maguire's  is  uncertain,  but  I  believe  that  he 
was.  At  any  rate,  when  Mile.  Marie  Zoe, — desig 
nated  as  "The  Cuban  Sylph," — began  an  engage 
ment  there,  September  14,  in  the  course  of  which 
she  appeared  in  "The  French  Spy,"  "The  Pretty 
Housebreaker,"  "Nita;  or,  Woman's  Constancy" 
(and  "Mazeppa"?),  Belasco  was  employed  to 
co-operate  with  her  in  sword  combats  on  the  stage: 
he  also  served  Mile.  Zoe,  during  her  stay  in  San 
Francisco,  as  a  sort  of  secretary. 

From  October  1  to  the  latter  part  of  December, 
1874,  Belasco  continued  in  employment  at  Maguire's 
New  Theatre,  officiating  not  only  as  an  actor  of 
small  parts  but  as  stage  manager,  as  a  hack  play 
wright,  and  as  secretary  for  Maguire.  On  October 
12  he  played  the  Dwarf  (one  of  the  Phantom  Crew 
of  Hendrick  Hudson),  in  "Rip  Van  Winkle," 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      71 

Herne  personating  Eip  and  Alice  Vane  appearing 
as  Gertrude.  On  October  21  he  participated  in  a 
representation  of  "The  People's  Lawyer"  (playing 
Lawyer  Tripper?),  in  which  Herne  acted  as  Solon 
Shingle.  On  the  next  night  "Alphonse"  was  acted 
at  Maguire's,  but  Belasco  seems  not  to  have  been 
in  the  bill,  because  he  is  positive  that  he  attended 
the  first  production  in  San  Francisco,  made  that 
night  at  the  California  Theatre,  of  Frank  Mayo's 
dramatization  of  Charles  Reade's  powerful  and 
painful  novel  of  "Griffith  Gaunt."  "I  made  a 
version  of  that  book,"  Belasco  has  told  me,  "and 
it  was  a  good  one,  as  I  remember  it;  but  it  passed 
out  of  my  control  soon  after  it  was  written:  I  sold 
it — to  James  McCabe,  I  think, — for  a  few  dollars. 
I  know  it  was  much  played  in  the  interior  [meaning 
the  small  towns  of  California,  Nevada,  etc.].  About 
the  same  time  that  I  made  my  version  of  'Griffith 
Gaunt,' — which,  of  course,  was  prompted  by  seeing 
Mayo's, — we  brought  out  a  new  play  at  Maguire's, 
called  'Lady  Madge,'  by  J.  H.  Le  Roy.  I  don't 
recall  what  it  was  about.  I  remember  that  it  was 
written  expressly  for  Adele  Leighton,  a  rich  novice, 
and  that  I  did  some  work  on  it  for  Le  Roy  and 
made  him  a  clean  script  and  set  of  the  parts. 
Herne,  Sydney  Cowell,  and  Thomas  Whiffen  were 
in  the  cast."  "Lady  Madge"  was  acted  at  Maguire's 


72      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

November  3,  and  did  not  hold  the  stage  for  more 
than  a  week.  On  the  llth  of  that  month  a  drama 
tization  of  Lever's  "Charles  O'Malley,"  made  by 
Herne,  was  brought  out,  Herne  appearing  in  it  as 
Mickey  Free  and  Sydney  Cowell  as  Mary  Brady. 
On  November  16  Annette  Ince  and  Ella  Kemble 
acted  at  Maguire's,  supported  by  Herne  and  Whif- 
fen,  in  "The  Sphinx,"  and  on  the  26th  a  notably 
successful  revival  was  made  of  "Oliver  Twist," 
— a  more  or  less  rehashed  version  of  the  dramatic 
epitome  of  the  novel  which  had  been  made  known 
throughout  our  country  by  E.  L.  Davenport  and 
James  W.  Wallack,  the  Younger,  being  used. 
Herne  played  Sikes;  Annette  Ince,  Nancy;  Ella 

Kemble,  Rosa  Maylie,  and  Lindsay,  Fagin. 

On  December  1  "Carlotta !  Queen  of  the  Arena"  was 
brought  out,  with  Miss  Ince  as  Carlotta  and  Herne 
as  Bambuno.  I  have  been  able  to  find  only  one 
other  definite  record  of  a  performance  at  Maguire's, 
prior  to  March  1,  1875;  that  record  is  of  a  pre 
sentment  there  of  the  old  musical  play  of  "The 
Enchantress,"  on  December  24,  with  Amy  Bennett 
in  the  principal  female  part:  Belasco  directed  the 
production  (ostensibly  under  the  stage  management 
of  Herne)  and  appeared  in  the  prologue  as  Pietro 
and  in  the  drama  as  Galeas.  "I  did  a  lot  of  hard 
work  on  'The  Enchantress'  for  Miss  Bennett's 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      73 

appearance  in  it, — in  fact,  I  rewrote  most  of  the 
dialogue,"  Belasco  has  declared  to  me. 


RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS.— 1875. 

In  Pinero's  capital  farce  of  "The  Magistrate" 
Mrs.  Posket,  solicitous  to  conceal  her  age,  addresses 
to  her  friend  Colonel  Lukyn  an  earnest  adjuration 
relative  to  an  impending  interview  with  her  hus 
band:  "Don't  give  him  dates;  keep  anything  like 
dates  away  from  him!"  Belasco's  aversion  to  fixed 
facts  fully  equals  that  of  the  distressed  lady,  though, 
in  his  case,  it  is  temperamental  instead  of  secretive. 
"The  vagabond,"  he  writes,  "always  says  'at  this 
time,'  whether  it  be  to-day  or  to-morrow,  and,  like 
Omar,  he  'lets  the  credit  go.'  The  incidents  that 
now  come  to  mind  are  a  little  confused  as  to  their 
chronological  order,  but  what  does  it  matter,  if  the 
impression  is  true!"  It  "matters,"  unfortunately, 
much, — because  confusion  and  apparent  contradic 
tion  which  result  from  lack  of  accuracy  and  order 
sometimes  tend  to  create  an  unjust  belief  that 
related  incidents,  actually  authentic,  are  untrue. 
It  has,  moreover,  rendered  protracted  and  tedious 
almost  beyond  patience  the  work  of  compiling  and 
arranging  a  clear,  sequent,  authoritative  account  of 
Belasco's  long  and  extraordinary  career.  I  have 


74      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

ascertained  divers  particulars  of  his  early  experi 
ences  and  alliances  (verifying  them  as  facts  by 
diligent  search  and  inquiry  in  many  directions), 
which,  however,  I  have  not  invariably  been  able 
to  place  in  exact  chronological  order  and  which  may 
conveniently  be  summarized  here. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  single  event  of  the 
first  decade  of  Belasco's  theatrical  life  was  his 
employment  in  a  responsible  position  at  Baldwin's 
Academy  of  Music.  But  during  about  a  year  and 
a  half  prior  to  his  first  engagement  there,  and  also 
during  about  the  same  length  of  time  subsequent 
to  it,  he  gained  much  valuable  knowledge,  in  asso 
ciation  with  various  players,  acting  in  "the  lumber 
districts"  of  Oregon  and  Washington;  in  Victoria 
and  Nevada,  and  in  many  California  towns,  includ 
ing  Oakland,  Sacramento,  Petaluma,  Stockton, 
Marysville,  San  Jose,  etc.  Wandering  stars,  of 
varying  magnitude,  with  whom  he  thus  appeared 
include  Sallie  Hinckley  and  Mrs.  Frank  Mark  Bates 
(respectively,  aunt  and  mother  of  Blanche  Bates), 
Amy  Stone,  Ellie  Wilton,  Charles  R.  Thorne,  Sr., 
Mary  Watson,  Annie  Pixley,  Fanny  Morgan 
Phelps,  Frank  I.  Fayne,  Gertrude  Granville,  Laura 
Alberta,  Katie  Pell,  and  the  old  California  min 
strel,  "Jake"  Wallace.  With  Miss  Pell  and 
Wallace  he  appeared  in  the  smaller  towns  of  Cali- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      75 

fornia  and  Nevada,  and  he  has  afforded  me  the 
following  interesting  bit  of  random  recollection. 
"Wallace  was  held  dear  in  every  Western  mining 
camp.  He  was  a  ban  joist,  and  when  the  miners 
heard  him  coming  down  the  road,  singing  the  old 
'49  songs,  there  used  to  be  a  general  cry  of  'Here 
comes  Wallace!'  and  work  would  stop  for  the  day. 
In  'The  Girl  of  the  Golden  West'  [1905]  I  intro 
duced  a  character  in  memory  of  the  'Jake'  Wallace 
of  long  ago;  I  gave  him  the  same  name,  made  him 
sing  the  same  songs,  and  enter  the  poker-saloon  to 
be  greeted  in  the  same  old  hearty  manner.  When 
negotiations  were  under  way  between  the  great 
composer  Puccini  and  myself  for  'The  Girl  of  the 
Golden  West'  to  be  set  to  music,  I  took  him  to  see 
a  performance  of  the  play.  As  we  sat  there,  I 
could  feel  no  perceptible  enthusiasm  from  him  until 
Jake  Wallace  came  in,  singing  his  '49  songs.  'Ah!' 
exclaimed  Puccini,  ' there  is  my  theme  at  last!" 

Of  Mrs.  Bates  and  her  ill-fated  husband  he  gives 
this  reminiscence:  "Both  Mrs.  Bates  and  her  hus 
band  were  sterling  actors  [they  were  players  of 
respectable  talent,  well  trained  in  the  Old  School — 
W.W.],  Mrs.  Bates  was  a  slight  little  woman, 
full  of  romance  and  for  the  greater  part  of  our 
acquaintance  much  given  to  melancholy.  I  look 
back  on  her  prime,  and  I  know  of  no  actress  who 


76      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

gave  a  more  satisfactory  interpretation  of  Camille 
than  she  did.  Her  Marie  Antoinette  was  also  very 
impressive.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bates  soon  left  for  Aus 
tralia,  but  before  they  went,  as  a  token  of  friendship, 
I  was  given  many  manuscript  plays  and  costumes 
which  the  two  would  not  need.  Soon  after  Mr. 
Bates  was  mysteriously  murdered.  Many  months 
passed,  and  I  heard  that  Mrs.  Bates  was  again  in 
San  Francisco,  staying  at  the  Occidental  Hotel.  So 
I  called  upon  her.  'I  only  have  Blanche  to  live  for 
now/  she  said,  and  while  we  sat  there  she  called  for 
her  little  daughter  to  come  to  her.  That  was  my 
first  meeting  with  my  future  star.  Thereafter  little 
Blanche  was  put  to  school,  and  I  went  on  the  road 
with  Mrs.  Bates,  playing  Armand  Duval  to  her 
Camille.  Then  I  lost  sight  of  her  for  some  time 
until  at  last  one  day  I  was  walking  with  'Jimmie' 
Barrows,  when  he  began  to  tell  me  of  a  famous 
actress  who  was  boarding  at  his  house.  'Her  name 
is  Mrs.  Bates,'  declared  'Jimmie,'  and  when  I  went 
home  with  him  I  found  my  old  friend  again. 
Blanche  had  pulled  out,  like  a  fast  growing  flower, 
blithesome  and  gay;  but  her  mother  seemed  to  have 
parted  with  the  last  drop  in  the  cup  of  her  happi 
ness,  and  during  our  entire  tour  showed  the  nervous 
strain  she  had  experienced  during  the  awful  times 
in  Australia.  'It  is  so  difficult  for  me  to  go  back 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      77 

to  the  different  theatres  and  tread  the  stages  we 
played  on  so  often  together,'  she  would  say.  'I 
seem  to  see  Frank's  face  everywhere,  in  the  shadows 
of  the  wings  and  out  in  the  cold  empty  spaces  of 
the  auditorium  when  we  are  rehearsing.  I  wonder 
who  struck  him  down.' 

"I  felt  a  great  sympathy  for  her,  and  she  and  I 
became  almost  like  brother  and  sister.  Never  shall 
I  forget  those  days  and  the  long  walks  we  used  to 
take  under  skies  that  held  all  the  warmth  and 
splendor  of  southern  Europe,  along  roads  that 
wound  their  tree-embowered  way  through  the  hills 
to  the  little  monastery  nestling  above.  At  night 
we  could  hear  the  ringing  of  far-away  bells,  and 
sometimes  through  the  stilly  air  the  sound  of  voices 
was  wafted  to  us  across  the  silence.  In  this  atmos 
phere  Mrs.  Bates  would  sit  and  talk  to  me  of  the 
East,  and  I  would  dream  dreams  of  things  to  be. 
There  was  a  popular  song  of  the  time  in  San  Fran 
cisco  called  *  Castles  in  the  Air/  and  invariably  our 
talks  would  end  with  a  laugh  and  by  my  humming 
that  tune. 

"It  was  Mrs.  Bates'  ambition  to  see  Blanche  doing 
literary  work;  for  she  did  not  want  her  to  enter  the 
theatrical  profession,  but  later  she  said:  'I  fear  the 
child  will  go  on  the  stage  after  all,  and  what  is 
more,  I  feel  that  she  is  going  to  have  a  future. 


78      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Perhaps,  who  knows,  some  day  you  may  be  able  to 
do  something  for  her,'  and  I  promised  her  that  I 
would,  if  luck  ever  came  my  way." 

Writing  to  me  about  other  actors  of  that  far-off 
time,  Belasco  has  mentioned:  "I  remember,  with 
special  pleasure  and  admiration,  John  E.  Owens, 
though  I  don't  remember  that  I  ever  acted  with 
him.  He  produced  a  play  at  the  Bush  Street 
Theatre  [error:  more  probably  at  the  California?], 
the  name  of  which  I  have  forgotten,  but  it  was  all 
about  'a  barrel  o'  apple  sass'  [strange  that  Belasco 
should  have  forgotten  the  title, — "The  People's 
Lawyer,"  sometimes  billed  as  "Solon  Shingle," — 
because  he  several  times  acted  in  it,  with  Herne 
and  others],  and  I  was  so  impressed  that  I  wrote 
a  play  for  him,  called  'The  Yankee.'  Owens  very 
kindly  listened  to  my  reading  of  it,  but  told  me 
he  had  no  intention  of  putting  aside  a  long  tried 
success.  However,  he  liked  some  of  the  speeches 
in  my  piece  and  paid  me  $25  for  them." 

"One  of  my  most  valued  teachers,"  he  also  writes, 
"was  'old  man  Thorne'  [Charles  R.  Thorne,  Sr.]. 
I  did  much  work  for  him  as  copyist,  prompter,  etc., 
and  attended  to  all  sorts  of  details, — hiring  of  wigs, 
arms,  costumes,  etc.,  for  the  minor  parts  and  for 
supers  in  productions  which  he  put  on, — so  that 
often  he  used  to  say  to  me,  'My  dear  Davie,  I  don't 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      79 

know  what  I  should  do  without  you!'  Once,  when 
Thorne  produced  'King  Richard  III.,'  in  a  tent,  in 
Howard  Street,  I  took  part  and  fought  a  sword 
combat  with  him  on  horseback.  He  was  always 
very  kind  to  me,  taught  me  much  and  gave  me 
pieces  of  wardrobe,  feathers,  belts,  swords,  &c. 
Another  early  favorite  of  mine  was  Mary  Glad- 
stane.  I  copied  parts  and  scripts  for  her,  at  the 
Metropolitan  and  elsewhere,  and  whenever  she 
played  Mary  Warner  in  San  Francisco  I  cried  over 
her  performance  so  much  that  she  was  delighted  and 
gave  me  a  copy  of  the  prompt  book.  There  were 
no  streetcars  in  those  days,  and  often  I  walked 
with  her  to  and  from  the  theatre." 

Belasco  was  absent  from  San  Francisco  from 
about  the  middle  of  January,  1875,  until  the  follow 
ing  May.  A  Miss  Rogers,  who  had  been  a  school 
teacher,  who  is  described  as  having  been  "very  beau 
tiful,"  and  who  became  infected  with  ambition  to 
shine  as  a  dramatic  luminary,  obtained  sufficient 
financial  support  to  undertake  a  starring  tour  and 
Belasco  was  employed  by  her  as  an  agent,  stage 
manager,  and  actor.  The  tour  appears  to  haw 
begun,  auspiciously,  in  (Portland?),  Oregon,  and  to 
have  been  continued,  with  declining  prosperity,  in 
small  towns  along  the  Big  Bear  and  Little  Bear 
rivers.  The  repertory  presented  comprised  "East 


80      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Lynne,"  "Camille,"  "Frou-Frou,"  etc.,  and  "Robert 
Macaire."  "I  always  liked  to  play  Macaire" 
Belasco  has  told  me,  "and  whenever  I  got  a  chance 
to  make  up  a  repertory  I  included  that  piece  in  it." 
The  tour  lasted  as  long  as  the  financial  support  was 
continued:  then  the  company  was  ignominiously  dis 
banded.  Belasco  and  Miss  Rogers,  however,  con 
tinued  to  act  together  for  several  weeks,  presenting 
a  number  of  one-act  plays — such  as  "A  Conjugal 
Lesson,"  "A  Happy  Pair,"  "Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peter 
White,"  etc., — which  require  only  two  performers. 
Belasco  also  gave  recitations.  "One  of  my  'special 
ties,'  "  he  has  told  me,  "was  'The  Antics  of  a  Clown/ 
in  which  I  gave  imitations  of  opera  singers  and 
ballet  dancers — using  a  slack  rope  instead  of  a 
taut  wire.  I  also  gave  imitations  of  all  the  well- 
known  actors,  and  I  had  a  Ventriloquist  act,'  with 
dummies.  I  made  my  own  wigs  and  costumes  and, 
altogether,  I  worked  pretty  hard  for  a  living!" 

On  February  15,  1875,  Augustin  Daly  produced 
his  authorized  adaptation  of  Gustav  von  Moser's 
"Ultimo,"  at  the  second  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre,  New 
York,  under  the  name — once  known  throughout  our 
country — of  "The  Big  Bonanza."  Its  success  was 
instant  and  extraordinary.  R.  H.  Hooley,  of  Chi 
cago,  presently  employed  Bartley  Campbell  (1844- 
1888)  to  make  another  version  of  that  play, 


DAVID    BELASCO    AS    ROBERT   MACAIRE 

Strop.     Suppose  he  should  wake? 
Macaire.     He  won't  wake! 


graph   by   Bradley   &   Rulofson,    San   Francisco. 
iRl   loaned   hy   Mrs.   David   Belasco. 


,IFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Camille,"  "Frou-'  ,  and  "Robert 

I    always    liked  Macaire" 

)ld  me,  "and  w  t  a  chance 

p  a  repert  that  piece  in  it." 

M  lasted  as  1<  I  support.  \v-i 

;ed:  then  the  < 
i.    Belasco  and 

jed  to  act  together  for  several  weeks;  presenting 

a  number  of  one-act  plays — such  as  "A  Conjuga 

Happy  Pair,"  "Mr.  and  Mrs.  Petei 

two  performers 

Belasco  a=  >V  'special 

wn, 
anc 

Ihe  well 

ust  act,'  witl 

id  costumes  and 

i  for  a  living!" 

igustin  Daly  produce* 

Gustav  von  Moser' 

teatre,  Ne\ 

throughout  ou 

Ib  s  wa 

a.  Hooley,  of  Chi 

^11  (1844 

ot    that    plaj 

SA    OO8AJ3S    QIVAQ 


bluort*  ad  a«oqqu8     .<\o•^^^ 


!    -A    x^fbuiH 

.- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      81 

"specially  localized  and  adapted  for  San  Francisco." 
Campbell  fulfilled  his  commission,  passing  several 
weeks  in  the  Western  metropolis  in  order  to  provide 
"local  atmosphere."  Belasco  was  still  "barnstorm 
ing"  when  he  learned  of  the  appearance  of  Hooley's 
Comedy  Company  in  San  Francisco, — May  10,  at 
the  Opera  House,  in  Campbell's  "Peril;  or,  Love 
at  Long  Branch," — and  he  immediately  ended  his 
uncertain  connection  with  Miss  Rogers  in  order  to 
return  home,  so  that  he  might  witness  the  perform 
ances  of  Hooley's  company  and,  if  possible,  become 
a  member  of  it.  "I  was  much  impressed  by  the 
reputation  of  'Hooley's  Combination,' "  he  writes  in 
a  note  to  me;  "and  I  wanted  particularly  to  see 
William  H.  Crane  and  M.  A.  Kennedy.  Crane's 
big,  wholesome  method  made  a  great  success,  and 
the  whole  company  was  popular."  Belasco  seems 
not  to  have  reached  home  until  about  the  end  of  the 
second  week  of  the  Hooley  engagement:  soon  after 
that  he  contrived  to  obtain  employment  at  the  Opera 
House  as  assistant  prompter  and  to  play  what  used 
to  be  styled  "small  utility  business."  His  note  to 
me  continues:  "Because  I  had  played  many  big 
parts,  out  of  town,  some  of  my  theatrical  friends 
thought  my  willingness  to  do  any  work  that  would 
give  me  valuable  experience  was  beneath  my  'dig 
nity'  and  that  I  was  thereby  losing  'caste.'  I  never 


82      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

saw  it  that  way.  'Haven't  you  any  pride?'  they 
used  to  say;  and  I  used  to  answer  'No,  I  expect  to 
be  obliged  to  spend  a  certain  amount  of  time  in 
the  cellar  before  I'm  allowed  to  walk  into  the 
parlor!"  And  in  conversation  with  me  on  this 
subject  he  has  said,  "Why,  I  would  do  anything  in 
those  days,  to  learn  or  get  a  chance:  I  once  worked 
as  a  dresser  for  J.  K.  Emmet,  because  I  couldn't 
get  into  his  company  any  other  way, — but  it  wasn't 
long  before  I  was  playing  parts  with  him." 

In  his  "Story"  Belasco  mentions  that  Daly  came 
to  San  Francisco  at  about  the  same  time  as  Hooley 
and  that  when  the  latter  brought  out  "Ultimo,"  and 
Daly  produced  "The  Big  Bonanza,"  "strange  as  it 
is  to  relate,  the  productions  were  almost  equally  suc 
cessful."  That  is  an  error:  Hooley's  production 
was  made  on  June  7  and,  though  distinctly  inferior 
to  Daly's, — made  on  July  19, — priority  had  its  usual 
effect  and  the  wind  was  completely  taken  out  of 
Daly's  sails:  "The  Big  Bonanza"  was  acted  in  San 
Francisco  by  Daly's  company  less  than  half-a-dozen 
times,  while  "Ultimo"  was  played  for  several  weeks 
and  also  was  several  times  revived. 

Belsaco's  relation  with  the  Hooley  company 
lasted  until  July  (11?),  on  which  date  its  season 
was  ended  at  the  Opera  House, — a  tour  of  Pacific 
Slope  towns  beginning  the  next  week.  Belasco, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      83 

remaining  in  San  Francisco,  endeavored  to  attach 
himself  to  Daly's  company,  but  failed  to  do  so, — 
partly,  it  is  probable,  because  of  his  intimate  con 
nection  with  Maguire,  who  was  both  friendly  to 
Hooley  and  inimical  to  Daly,  whom  he  had  striven 
to  exclude  from  San  Francisco  by  refusing  to  rent 
him  a  theatre.  Daly,  however,  hired  Platt's  Hall 
and,  July  13,  presented  his  company  there,  in 
"London  Assurance,"  so  successfully  that  Maguire 
decided  to  withdraw  his  opposition  and  share  the 
profits  of  success.  Daly's  company,  accordingly, 
was  transferred  to  the  Opera  House  on  July  15, 
making  its  first  appearance  there  in  "Divorce,"  with 
Belasco  as  one  of  the  auditors. 

During  the  remainder  of  1875  Belasco  labored 
in  much  the  same  desultory  and  precarious  way. 
When  no  other  employment  could  be  procured  by 
him  he  worked  as  a  salesman  in  an  outfitting  shop. 
"One  thing  I  did,"  he  gleefully  relates,  "for  which 
I  was  much  looked  down  upon — whenever  I  went 
into  the  country  towns  I  peddled  a  'patent  medicine,' 
as  I  called  it;  a  gargle  made  from  a  receipt  of  my 
mother's,  and  it  was  a  good  one,  too;  I  know  because 
I  not  only  sold  it  but  I  used  it!  And  I  coaxed  all 
my  theatrical  friends  to  use  it  and  write  testimonials 
for  me."  His  chief  business,  however,  when  not 
regularly  engaged  in  the  theatres,  was  the  collection 


84      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

and  compilation  of  a  library  of  plays.  Between 
1875  and  1880  he  prepared  prompt  books  of  almost 
every  play  that  was  successfully  produced  in  San 
Francisco — altering  and  rearranging  many  of  them, 
— and  in  frequent  instances  supplying  them  to 
travelling  companies  or  stars.  His  friend  Mrs. 
Bates,  speaking  to  me  (1903)  about  him  and  about 
the  facility  he  developed  as  an  adapter  and  play 
wright,  said:  "He  was  a  marvel!  In  'the  old  days' 
I  have  known  a  star  to  give  Belasco  an  outline  of 
a  plot,  with  three  or  four  situations,  on  a  Thursday 
night — and  we  acted  the  play  on  the  next  Monday!" 
Among  dramatizations  that  he  made  in  this  year, 
or  the  next,  are  "Bleak  House," — prompted  by  the 
success  of  Mme.  Janauschek,  who  had  presented  a 
version  at  the  California  Theatre,  June  7, — "David 
Copperfield,"  "Dombey  &  Son,"  "Struck  Blind," 
and  "The  New  Magdalen."  The  latter  was  a 
variant  of  Le  Roy's  version,  which  he  made  for  his 
friend  Ellie  Wilton,  and  which  was  first  acted  at 
the  California  on  August  7,  1875.  On  the  27th 
of  that  month  "Lost  in  London"  was  acted  at 
Maguire's  New  Theatre,  according  to  a  prompt 
book  made  by  Belasco,  and  on  the  80th  Reade's 
"Dora"  was  brought  out  there, — "under  my  stage 
direction,"  says  Belasco,  and  adds:  "I  also  did  some 
work  on  the  [prompt]  book,  so  as  to  make  the  part 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      85 

of  Farmer  Atten  more  suitable  for  James  O'Neill." 
On  November  1  J.  A.  Sawtell  made  his  first 
appearance  in  San  Francisco,  in  one  of  Murphy's 
many  revivals  of  "Maum  Cre."  "I  recall  that 
night,  perfectly,"  writes  Belasco,  "because  I  then 
first  met  Sawtell,  with  whom  I  afterward  travelled 
in  many  capacities.  When  I  produced  'The  Girl 
of  the  Golden  West'  (1905),  Sawtell  asked  me  for 
an  engagement — just  so  he  'could  be  doing  some 
thing,'  as  he  put  it — and  I  remember  that  he  came 
up  to  me  on  the  stage  one  night  and  said:  '  "Davy," 
I  was  a  big  star  in  California  and  you  were  my  boy 
assistant;  now  here  you  are  with  your  own  theatre 
and  I'm  playing  a  small  part  in  it!  How  did  you 
do  it?' " 

About  the  end  of  November  Belasco  left 
Maguire's  employment  and  took  a  place  as  assist 
ant  stage  manager,  prompter,  and  general  helper 
under  Charles  R.  Thorne,  Sr.,  who,  on  December 
13,  opened  Thome's  Palace  Theatre  (it  had  pre 
viously  been  Wilson's  Amphitheatre),  at  the  corner 
of  Montgomery  and  Market  Streets,  San  Francisco. 
That  engagement  lasted  for  about  three  weeks — 
Thorne  closing  his  theatre  on  December  31,  without 
warning.  Belasco's  delight  in  acquiring  experience 
was  gratified  in  this  venture,  but  it  was  not  other 
wise  profitable  to  him,  as  Thorne  was  unable  to  pay 


86      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

more  than  a  small  part  of  his  salary.  Besides  dis 
charging  his  other  duties  Belasco  acted,  in  this 
engagement,  Santo,  in  "Gaspardo;  or,  The  Three 
Banished  Men  of  Milan";  Signor  Meteo,  in  "The 
Miser's  Daughter,"  and  Gilbert  Gates,  in  "The 
Dawn  of  Freedom."  "The  Fool's  Revenge,"— 
Thorne  as  Bertuccio  and  Kate  Denin  as  Fiordelisa, 
—"The  Forty  Thieves,"  "Who  Killed  Cock  Robin?" 
and  "Faustus,  a  Romantic  Spectacle,"  were  also 
produced,  and,  in  one  capacity  or  another,  Belasco 
took  part  in  all  those  productions;  but  I  have  not 
been  able  to  find  programmes.  On  January  7, 
1876,  the  house  was  reopened,  as  the  Palace 
Theatre,  under  the  management  of  Col.  J.  H. 
Wood,  presenting  Frank  Jones,  in  "The  Black 
Hand;  or,  The  Lost  Will,"  in  which  Belasco  per 
formed  as  Bob,  a  Policeman.  Jones'  engagement 
lasted  for  about  three  weeks:  thereafter  Belasco 
drifted  back  into  the  employment  of  Maguire. 

BALDWIN'S  ACADEMY  AND  BARRY  SULLIVAN. 

In  1876  Edward  J.  Baldwin,  locally  known  as 
"Lucky  Baldwin,"  in  a  business  association  with 
Thomas  Maguire  built  a  theatre  in  San  Francisco 
which  was  named  Baldwin's  Academy  of  Music. 
Baldwin  had  been  an  hostler,  Maguire  a  cab-driver; 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      87 

both  had  prospered  and  become  wealthy — Baldwin 
to  an  astonishing  degree.  The  theatre,  which  was 
incorporated  with  an  hotel,  called  the  Baldwin, 
was  built  on  land  owned  by  Maguire,  at  the 
corner  of  Market  and  Powell  streets,  and  it  was 
an  uncommonly  spacious  and  commodious  edi 
fice.  Baldwin  and  Maguire,  although  associated 
in  this  enterprise,  were  not  friends,  and  Belasco 
has  assured  me  that  most  of  their  business 
transactions  were  carried  on  through  him,  as  an 
intermediary.  Baldwin's  Academy  of  Music  was 
opened  March  6,  1876.  Maguire  was  announced  as 
"proprietor,"  James  A.  Herne  as  stage  manager: 
Belasco,  although  not  advertised  as  such,  officiated 
as  assistant  stage  manager  and  prompter.  The 
opening  bill  was  "King  Richard  III.," — Gibber's 
perversion  of  Shakespeare's  tragedy, — with  the 
Irish  tragedian  Barry  Sullivan  in  the  central  char 
acter,  supported  by  the  stock  company  from 
Maguire's  New  Theatre.  That  company  included, 

among  others,  James  A.  Herne,  Arthur  D 

Billings,  Louis  James,  Edward  J Buckley, 

William  Henry  Crane,  Michael  A.  Kennedy,  Katie 
Mayhew,  Emily  Baker,  Louise  Hawthorne,  and 

Mrs.   Belle   Douglass.     James   F Cathcart 

was  specially  engaged,  to  play  Richmond,  which 
part  he  acted  till  March  10,  when  he  was  super- 


88      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

seded  by  James  O'Neill;  he  played  various  other 
parts,  however,  during  the  engagement.  Belasco 
played  Sir  Richard  Ratcliff.  The  engagement 
of  Barry  Sullivan  lasted  till  April  16,  the  plays 
presented,  after  "King  Richard  III.,"  being  "The 
Wonder,"  "Hamlet,"  "Macbeth,"  "The  Game 
ster,"  "King  Lear,"  "Othello,"  "The  Merchant  of 
Venice,"  a  version  of  "Don  Csesar  de  Bazan"  called 
"A  Match  for  a  King,"  "A  New  Way  to  Pay  Old 
Debts,"  and  "The  Wife."  In  all  of  those  plays 
Belasco  participated,  acting  small  parts,  which  are 
named  in  the  schedule  of  his  repertory  given  later 

in  this  work.     On  April  18  Mrs.  James  A 

Gates  and  her  "Grand  Opera  Company"  succeeded 
Sullivan,  at  Baldwin's  Academy,  in  "Mme.  1'Archi- 
duc,"  while  Maguire's  stock  company  returned  to 
Maguire's  New  Theatre,  where  some  of  its  mem 
bers,  including  Belasco,  appeared,  in  support  of 
Messrs.  Baker  and  Farron,  in  a  trivial  play  called 
"Heinrich  and  Hettie."  Belasco,  who  had  profited 
by  his  association  with  Barry  Sullivan, — an  actor 
of  exceptional  ability  and  wide  experience,  and, 
though  rough  in  method  and  sometimes  violently 
vehement  in  delivery,  a  master  of  his  vocation, — 
and  had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  please  that  austere 
martinet,  provides,  in  his  "Story,"  tfiis  interesting 
glimpse  of  him: 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      89 

"To  my  mind  the  most  difficult  roles  (sic!)  were  the 
officers  and  flying  messengers  in  the  Shakespearean  plays, 
when  cast  with  some  famous  tragedian.  All  young  actors 
appreciated  this,  and,  knowing  Sullivan's  temperament, 
were  very  loath  to  subject  themselves  to  his  rough  handling. 
It  so  happened  that  I  was  selected  to  play  these  flying 
messengers  and  recite  the  tricky  speeches,  but  no  more  than 
the  others  did  I  escape.  One  day  I  suddenly  found  myself 
held  high  in  air,  and  my  descent  was  equally  rapid.  I  was 
laid  up  for  several  nights.  As  a  reward  he  cast  me  to 
play  Francis,  in  'The  Stranger,'  but  because  of  the  objec 
tions  of  James  and  Buckley,  each  of  whom  claimed  the 
part,  it  was  never  played.  I  had  the  advantage  of  private 
rehearsals,  however,  with  this  great  tragedian  in  his  room 
at  the  Baldwin  Hotel.  .  .  .  The  reason  why  he  liked  me, 
he  said,  was  that,  with  my  pale  face  and  blue-black  hair,  I 
reminded  him  of  a  little  priest  who  had  been  a  chum  of 
his  in  Ireland.  When  he  left,  he  gave  me  a  much-prized 
feather,  such  as  actors  usually  wore  when  they  played 
Malcolm  or  Macbeth.  'I  shall  probably  never  see  you 
again,'  he  said,  'and  it  may  help  you  to  remember  me  with 
kindly  feelings.  It  belonged  to  the  girl  I  loved  best  in  the 
world.' " 


After  his  engagement  with  Baker  and  Farron 
Belasco  went  "barnstorming"  in  various  California 
and  Nevada  towns  and  camps,  but  returned  to  San 
Francisco  at  intervals,  sometimes  remaining  there 
a  few  days,  while  seeking  employment, — working, 
meanwhile,  on  dramatic  versions  of  various  books  or 
stories  or  on  the  revision  and  alteration  of  old 


90      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

plays, — sometimes  acting  small  parts  at  any  of 
the  theatres  or  serving  as  a  super  when  no  better 
occupation  was  obtainable.  On  May  4,  in  that  city, 
he  participated  in  a  performance  at  Maguire's  New 
Theatre  for  the  benefit  of  M.  A.  Kennedy,  when 
the  bill  included  "One  Thousand  Milliners,"  "Rob 
ert  Macaire,"  and  the  burlesque  of  "Kenilworth," 
— in  which  latter  play  he  had  often  acted  Queen 
Elizabeth.,  as  I  have  reason  to  think  he  did  on  this 
occasion.  He  seems,  also,  to  have  taken  part,  in  a 
minor  capacity,  in  at  least  one  of  the  performances 
given  in  May,  1876,  at  the  California  Theatre,  by 
Edwin  Adams,  who  played  Rover,  in  "Wild  Oats," 
and  he  saw  that  fine  actor  as  Enoch  Arden,  if  he 
did  not  act  with  him  in  the  play  about  that  char 
acter.  He  also  saw,  May  29,  1876,  at  Wade's 
Opera  House,  San  Francisco,  George  Rignold's 
first  performance  in  San  Francisco  of  King  Henry 
the  Fifth, — a  remarkably  pictorial,  spirited,  fervent, 
and  stirring  impersonation. 

Rignold  had  been  brought  to  America  by  Jar- 
rett  &  Palmer,  under  an  arrangement  with  Charles 
Calvert,  of  Manchester,  England,  and  he  made  his 
first  appearance  in  this  country,  February  6,  1875, 
at  Booth's  Theatre, — then  under  the  direction  of 
those  managers, — acting  King  Henry  the  Fifth. 
Shakespeare's  play,  which  was  withdrawn  at  Booth's 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      91 

April  24,  1875,  was  revived  there,  April  10,  1876, 
and  ran  for  five  weeks.  Some  dissension  arose 
between  Rignold  and  Jarrett  &  Palmer,  and  those 
managers  arranged  for  the  presentment  of  the 
Shakespearean  historical  drama  and  pageant  (Cal- 
vert's  setting)  in  San  Francisco,  at  the  California 
Theatre,  where,  on  June  5,  it  was  brought  out, 
with  Lawrence  Barrett  as  King  Henry.  Jarrett 
&  Palmer  conveyed  their  production  and  members 
of  the  theatrical  company  across  the  continent 
on  board  a  special  train,  which  left  Jersey  City 
at  1.30  A.  M.,  June  1,  and  arrived  at  the  mole, 
Oakland,  California,  at  9.22  A.  M.,  June  4, — having 
made  the  journey  in  eighty-three  hours,  thirty-nine 
minutes,  sixteen  seconds.  Rignold,  when  acting  in 
the  Western  metropolis,  preparatory  to  returning  to 
England  by  way  of  Australia,  was  under  the  man 
agement  of  Frederick  W.  Bert.  Belasco  closely 
studied  both  those  Shakespeare  productions  and  the 
acting  with  which  they  were  illustrated,  thereby 
adding  materially  to  his  knowledge  of  the  good  tra 
ditions  of  Shakespearean  interpretation.  No  more 
scrupulous  and  competent  stage  director  than  Law 
rence  Barrett  ever  lived,  while  Rignold  had  been 
carefully  trained  by  Calvert,  one  of  the  best  of 
stage  managers  and  Shakespearean  actors, — and  had 
enjoyed  the  advantage  of  seeing  Calvert  play  the 


92      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

part  when  first  he  revived  the  history,  at  Man 
chester.  Belasco  himself  never  set  a  finer  spec 
tacle  on  the  stage  than  Calvert's  presentment  of 
"King  Henry  V." 

During  June,  like  Asmodeus,  he  flamed  in  many 
places,  generally  appearing  for  only  a  single  per 
formance.  By  July  15,  1876,  he  was  at  home 
again,  and  as  prompter  and  stage  manager,  and 
sometimes  as  super  or  actor  of  small  parts,  was 
employed  at  Baldwin's  Academy  of  Music  during 
an  engagement  there  of  George  Fawcett  Rowe, 
who,  on  that  date,  began,  as  Waifton  Stray,  in  his 
play  of  "Brass,"  and  acted,  in  succession,  Micawber, 
in  "Little  Em'ly,"  and  Hawkeye,  in  "Leatherstock- 
ing,"  also  one  of  his  dramas.  On  July  23,  Sunday 
night,  Belasco  appeared,  as  DeWilt,  in  a  perform 
ance,  for  the  benefit  of  E.  J.  Buckley,  given  "by 
John  McCullough  and  members  of  the  Dramatic 
Profession,"  at  the  California  Theatre.  The  play 
was  Augustin  Daly's  "Under  the  Gas-Light." 
McCullough  and  Barton  Hill  recited,  and  McCul 
lough  performed  as  Julian  St.  Pierre,  in  the  Dag 
ger  Scene,  from  "The  Wife."  On  August  14 
Eleanor  Carey  made  her  first  appearance  in  San 
Francisco,  acting  Miss  Gwilt,  in  a  dramatization  of 
Wilkie  Collins'  "Armadale,"  and  Belasco,  then  meet 
ing  her,  formed  an  acquaintance  which,  eventually, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      93 

was  valuable  to  him:  he  made  a  play  for  Miss 
Carey,  on  the  basis  of  "Article  47,"  calling  it  "The 
Creole,"  which  was  acted  at  the  Union  Square 
Theatre,  New  York,  January  17,  1881,  and  in  which 
she  was  seen  in  many  cities. 


WITH  BOOTH  AT  THE  CALIFORNIA. 

The  period  of  about  two  and  a  half  years,  from 
August,  1876,  to  February,  1879,  was  one  of  inces 
sant  activity  for  Belasco:  in  it  he  underwent  much 
toil  and  acquired  much  knowledge  which  served  to 
develop  his  faculties  and  tended  to  equip  him  for 
the  many-sided  labor  of  his  later  life.  At  first,  his 
progress  in  that  period  was  slow;  but  it  is  not  daily 
exercise,  it  is  the  total  effect  of  long  persistence  in 
it,  that  develops,  and  scrutiny  of  the  register  of 
Belasco's  experience  in  those  years  exhibits  various 
events  of  signal  significance  and  many  incidents  of 
interest  which  require  mention  and  comment.  One 
of  the  latter,  which  he  recalls  with  special  pleasure, 
was  his  meeting  with  Edwin  Booth.  That  great 
actor,  whose  professional  novitiate  was  served  in 
San  Francisco, — chiefly  at  the  old  Metropolitan 
Theatre, — from  1852  to  1856,  left  there  in  Septem 
ber,  1856,  and  did  not  again  visit  the  West  for 
exactly  twenty  years.  On  September  4,  1876,  at 


94      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

the  California  Theatre,  acting  Hamlet,,  he  began  an 
engagement  which  lasted  for  eight  weeks,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  was  seen,  in  succession,  as 
Richelieu,  lago,  Othello,  King  Richard  the  Second, 
King  Lear,  Bertuccio,  in  "The  Fool's  Revenge"; 
Shylock,  Pescara,  in  "The  Apostate";  Marc  Antony, 
Camus,  and  Brutus,  in  "Julius  Caesar";  King 
Richard  the  Third,  Mr.  Holler,  in  "The  Stranger"; 
Lucius  Brutus,  in  "The  Fall  of  Tarquin,"  and 
Claude  Melnotte.  Belasco  was  intensely  eager  to 
see  and  study  the  acting  of  Booth — surely  the 
greatest  tragic  genius  that  has  graced  our  Stage  and 
a  consummate  executant  in  art — and  he  sought  to 
obtain  an  engagement  at  the  California  Theatre  to 
play  the  same  "line  of  parts"  (as  the  phrase  goes 
among  old  stock  company  actors)  which  he  had  per 
formed  in  the  preceding  Spring  with  Barry  Sul 
livan.  Though  he  failed  in  that  effort — and  was 
keenly  disappointed  thereby — he  was  not  to  be 
balked  in  his  purpose,  and  got  himself  employed, 
during  the  Booth  engagement,  as  a  super.  "I  could 
not  give  every  night  to  such  work,"  he  has  told  me; 
"but  I  'walked  on'  with  him,  at  least  once,  in  every 
play  he  did, — and  in  'Hamlet,'  'Richelieu,'  and 
'Julius  Caesar'  I  think  I  went  on  at  every  perform 
ance.  In  'Caesar'  when  Booth  played  Cassius  McCul- 
lough  was  the  Brutus  and  Thomas  W.  Keene  the 


EDWIN    BOOTH    AS    HAMLET 


'There's  something  in  his  sou/ 
O'er  which  his  melancholy  sits  en  brood." 

-Act  III,  sc.  1 


•aph  hy  Sarony. 
8  Collection. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

ifornia  Theatre,  acting  Hamlet,  he  began  an 
engagement  which  lasted   for  eight   weeks,   in  the 
which    he   ^  i,    in    succession,    as 

Richelieu,  Iagof  Othello,  King  Richard  the  Second, 
King  Lear,  Bertuccio,  in  "The  Fool's  Revenge"; 
Sh  'escara,  in  "The  Apostate";  Marc  Antony  t 

Cassius,    and    Brutus,    in    "Julius    (  King 

Richard  the  Third,  Mr.  Hatter,  in  "The  Stranger"; 
Luciu*  Brutus,  in  "The  Fall  of  Tarquin,"  and 
Claude  Melnotte.  Belasco  was  intensely  eager  to 
see  and  of  Booth  —  surely  the 

greatest  ti  »ur  Stage  and 

a  consummate  he  sought  to 

obtain  an  engagemes  la  Theatre  to 

play  the  sani  the  phrase  goes 

among  olc  h  he  had  per 

former:  nth  Barry  Sul 

livan.  effort—  and  was 

was    not    to    be 

<•   got  himself  employed, 

it,  as  a  super.    "I  could 

such  work,"  he  has  told  me; 

him,  at  least  once,  in  every 

•id    in    'Hamlet,'    'Richelieu,'    and 

I  think  I  went  on  at  every  perform- 

ant  Caesar'  when  Bool  d  Cassius  McCul- 

kxib  was  the  Brutus  and  :s  W.  Keene  the 


8A  HTOOS  mwaa 

Woe  e 
A  i\« 
I  ,oa  ,111  toA- 


.noi* 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      95 

Antony;  when  Booth  played  Brutus  McCullough 
was  Cassius;  when  Booth  was  Antony  Keene  was 
Cassius  and  McCullough  went  back  to  Brutus.  We 
used  to  wish  we  had  Lawrence  Barrett  there  for 
Cassius — but  'Tom'  Keene  was  a  fine  actor  in  his 
way,  and  I  shall  never  forget  those  performances 
of  'Caesar,'  nor  those  of  'Othello,'  in  which  Booth 
and  McCullough  alternated  as  Othello  and  lago. 
Booth  was  my  great  idol;  the  one  actor  who,  for 
me,  could  surpass  McCullough,  Barrett,  and  Mont 
gomery.  I  found  him  very  uneven — that  is,  his  per 
formances  were  not  always  up  to  his  own  standard. 
But,  when  he  was  really  'in  the  vein,'  there  was 
nobody  like  him;  there  never  has  been,  and  there 
never  will  be!  I  never  heard  such  a  voice, — so  full 
of  fire,  feeling,  and  power, — and  I  never  saw  such 
eyes  as  Booth's,  when  he  played  King  Richard  the 
Third,  Richelieu,  or  lago.  At  first  I  used  to  go 
to  the  California  to  watch  his  rehearsals,  but  I  soon 
found  out  it  was  little  use.  The  plays  were  all  an 
old  story  to  him  and  he  wouldn't  rehearse.  McCul 
lough  had  Booth's  prompt  books,  and  Booth  left 
the  company  pretty  much  to  him  and  just  'ran 
through'  the  big  scenes  with  the  principals.  He 
was  very  gentle,  considerate,  and  kind  to  everybody, 
but  he  seldom  said  much  unless  spoken  to.  I  valued 
my  acquaintance  with  him  greatly ;  I  never  missed  an 


96      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

opportunity  to  see  him,  and  I  cherish  his  memory 
as  that  of  one  of  the  best  of  men  and  greatest  of 
actors." 

Belasco's  enthusiasm  for  Booth  has  led  him,  in 
recent  years,  to  make  an  extensive  collection  of 
precious  stage  relics  associated  with  that  sombre 
genius:  visitors  to  the  reception  room  on  the  stage 
of  the  Belasco  Theatre  will  find  the  "star's"  dressing 
room,  which  opens  off  it,  indicated  by  a  star  of 
brilliants  which  was  worn,  first,  by  William  Charles 
Macready  as  Hamlet,  and,  afterward,  by  Booth,  in 
the  same  part.  There,  also,  are  displayed  Booth's 
Brutus  sandals  and  sword,  his  Macbeth  spear,  his 
Bertuccio  bauble,  the  mace  carried  by  him  when 
acting  King  Richard  the  Third,  the  sceptre  he  used 
as  King  Lear,  the  hat  he  wore  as  Petruchio,  his 
Shylock  knife  and  scales,  and  his  make-up  box. 

During  October  of  1876  Belasco  worked  for  a 
short  while  with  James  W.  Ward  and  Winnetta 
Montague  (he  appeared  with  them  at  the  Grand 
Opera  House,  October  16,  in  "The  Willing  Hand"), 
as  stage  manager  and  as  adapter  and  rectifier  of 
several  plays.  On  Sunday,  October  22,  he  partici 
pated  in  a  benefit  for  Katie  Mayhew  given  at 
Baldwin's  Theatre,  appearing  as  Doctor  of  the  Hos 
pital  in  "The  Two  Orphans."  Soon  after  that, 
declining  a  minor  position  in  a  new  company,  headed 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      97 

by  Eleanor  Carey  and  organized  for  "a  grand 
re-opening  of  the  Grand  Opera  House"  (effected 
November  13,  with  "Wanted,  a  Divorce"),  he 
joined  a  travelling  company,  at  Olympia,  Wash 
ington,  headed  by  Fanny  Morgan  Phelps,  and  for 
about  three  months  resumed  the  precarious  life  of 
a  strolling  player. 


BELASCO  AND  "THE  EGYPTIAN  MYSTERY." 

By  about  the  beginning  of  February,  1877, 
Belasco  was  once  more  in  San  Francisco,  and 
immediately  allied  himself,  as  playwright,  stage 
manager,  and  actor,  with  Frank  Gardner  and  his 
wife,  Caroline  Swain.  Gardner, — who  afterward 
turned  his  attention  to  gold  mining  in  Australia  and 
acquired  great  wealth, — had  associated  with  himself 
a  person  familiar  with  the  famous  "Pepper's  Ghost" 
illusion,  and  together  they  had  devised  a  variant  of 
that  contrivance  which  was  utilized  in  giving  theat 
rical  performances.  Belasco,  describing  it,  writes: 
"There  was  a  stage,  covered  with  black  velvet,  and 
a  sheet  of  glass,  placed  obliquely  over  a  space 
beneath  the  stage, — which  was  called  the  'oven.' 
Gas  lamps  were  ingeniously  concealed  so  as  to  give 
the  impression  of  a  phosphorescent  light  from 
ghostlike  bodies.  The  characters  in  the  play  were 


98      THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

obliged  to  enter  the  'oven'  under  the  black  velvet, 
and  to  lie  on  their  backs,  while  their  misty  shadows 
were  thrown  like  watery  impressions  upon  the  glass 
plate.  As  these  shadows  floated  across  the  surface 
of  the  glass,  the  people  in  the  'oven'  could  easily 
shake  tables  and  move  chairs  to  the  hair-raising  sat 
isfaction  of  the  audience." 

Belasco  appeared  with  the  Gardners,  at  Egyptian 
Hall  (No.  22  Geary  Street,  near  Kearny),  on 
February  16,  as  The  Destroyer,  in  "The  Haunted 
House";  Valentine,  in  an  epitome  of  the  "Faust" 
story  (introducing  the  Duel  Scene  between  Faust 
and  Valentine),  and  Mr.  Trimeo,  in  "The  Mysteri 
ous  Inn."  On  the  next  night  he  performed  as 
Avica,  Spirit  of  Avarice,  in  "A  Storm  of  Thoughts," 
and  Phil  Bouncer,  in  "The  Persecuted  Traveller," 
as  well  as  in  "The  Haunted  House."  On  February 
20  he  personated  Our  Guest,  in  "Our  Mysterious 
Boarding  House,"  and  on  April  2,  Mark,  in  "The 
Prodigal's  Return."  Belasco  wrote  all  those  plays, 
specially  for  use  in  Gardner's  "Egyptian  Mystery," 
— as  the  entertainment  was  called, — and  at  least  two 
others,— "Wine,  Women,  and  Cards,"  and  "The 
Christmas  Night ;  or,  The  Convict's  Return."  I  have 
not  found  casts  of  the  last  named  two,  or  record  of 
the  dates  on  which  they  were  first  produced. 
Belasco,  besides  playing  the  parts  as  above  enumer- 


EGYPTIAN    HALL. 


No.  22  Geary  Street. 


....Near  Kcarn; 


Eighth  and  Positively  the   Last  Week 


THIS  EVENING- 


APRIL   10 


And  Every  Evening  during  the  week,  the   Entertain ment  will   commence 

with  a  New  and  Original  Drama,  in  2  acts,  (by  a  <*eutleman 

of  this  city),  entitled  THE 


Or,  The  Father's  Dream. 

Jasper   Katcliff.... who  has  the  dream J.  II.  LcRoy 


Joyce,  .  .  ,a  Constable 

l»eath 

!><  IIMIM  of  Cards  ..............  . 

May....  the  Sister 
Mary....  Faithful  and  True 
Nellie....  a  Woman  of  the  World 
Anger  ,^.with_a_good  word  for  all 


Law 
H.  G 


rence 
Gcorse 
senate 
Miss  Kitty  Kelmoui 
Miss  JVcllie  Chapter 


Miss  Morris 
'McCuhe 


Miss  Ally  ' 


To  be  followed  by  a  series  of  Wonderful  Illusory  Tableaux,  illustrating  th 
Life,  Trials,  Sickness  and  Death  of 

LITTLE    JIM! 

The  Collier's  Lad. 

TABLEAUX-I.  The  Sick  Child.  2.  The  Mother's  Prayer. 

3.  The  Angel's  Whisper.  4.  The  Collier's  Return. 

«^e^;jin^ljn)m»>_o^Lj^Ue^.n 

AFTER    WHICH— 

iff! 

Introducing  another  series  of  Illusions,  which  appear  and 
like  phantoms  from  another  world. 

Rolando,  Wood-Cutter J.  II.  Leroy 

ATica.  Spirit  of  Avarice D.  Belasco 

iac,  Spirit  of  Wine : L.  Belinour 

m<  lia Miss  Nellie  Simpler 

•'airy  of  Temperance Miss  Kitty  Beluitinr 

1ORAL-- Man  shouldJ>e_contejitejJjr^ 

To  coEclude  with  the  Laughable  Farce  of 

Our  Mysterious  Boarding  House 

>ur  Guest '. .  .D.  Bclasco 

lur  Head ¥ 

HirBocly J« 

>nr  Carman L.  Bel 

»nr  Ghost Mr.  Lanrenee 

Mir  Carpenter Louis 

>ur  Clown Mr.  Lanjjley 

tor  Skeleton (tones 

>nr  Landlady Miss   iVcllie  Chapter 

>ur  Domestic ; Miss  Kitty  Belmour 

>ur  Boarder Miss  Ally  McCabe 

During  the  piece  some  Wonderful  as  well  aa  Comical  Illusions  will  be  pre- 
nted  representing  the  Mysterious  and  Diabolical  proceedings  of  the  Earthly 
nd  Unearthly. 


93 

H 
I! 

u 


CC      OJ 

si 


s  si 
fe  ra 


Q    - 

-M  «*-! 

° 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO      99 

ated,  also  gave  various  recitations  at  Egyptian  Hall, 
with  musical  accompaniments, — among  them  his 
favorite  "The  Maniac,"  "The  Maiden's  Prayer," 
and  "Little  Jim,  the  Collier's  Lad."  Recalling  his 
alliance  with  Gardner,  he  writes  the  following  bit 
of  informative  reminiscence:  "Our  'Mystery'  attracted 
much  attention.  'Egyptian  Hall,'  if  I  remember 
correctly,  had  been  a  shop  and  was  fitted  up  for 
our  'show'  by  Gardner.  I  remember  that  the 
Faust  and  Valentine  Duel  Scene  made  a  great  sen 
sation,  because  my  sword  seemed  to  go  right 
through  the  body  of  Faust.  And  the  recitations 
were  very  effective,  too.  When  I  gave  'Little  Jim' 
spirits  seemed  to  float  here  and  there,  illustrating 
the  sentiments  of  the  lines.  Our  little  theatre  was 
packed  night  after  night,  and  before  the  end  of  the 
engagement  I  was  obliged  to  write  about  eight 
pieces  for  Gardner.  I  have  often  been  asked  if  this 
was  my  first  endeavor  to  experiment  with  stage 
lights.  It  was  not.  Some  time  before  I  had  been 
working  with  locomotive  headlights,  and  I  had  dis 
covered  the  ease  with  which  I  could  get  certain 
effects  by  placing  tin  pans  before  oil  lamps.  Then 
it  occurred  to  me  that  by  means  of  colored  silks, — 
my  own  forerunner  of  gelatine  slides, — I  could  add 
further  variations  to  colored  lights,  and  it  was  after 
this  experience  that  I  began  to  pay  particular  atten- 


100    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

tion  to  the  charm  of  stage  lighting  and  to  the 
inventions  which,  since  then,  have  been  so  wonder 
fully  developed." 


A    REMINISCENCE    OF    HELENA    MODJESKA. 

The  engagement  at  Egyptian  Hall  lasted  until 
the  middle  of  April;  then  Belasco  travelled  with  the 
Gardners  and  their  "Mystery,"  presenting  the  enter 
tainments  above  mentioned  and  variations  of  them, 
until  the  end  of  July.  From  August  to  about 
October  he  appears  to  have  been  connected  with  the 
California  Theatre:  on  August  18  he  appeared 
there,  in  a  performance  given  for  the  benefit  of 
A.  D.  Billings,  as  John  O'Bibs,  in  Boucicault's 
"The  Long  Strike"  (billed  on  that  occasion  as  "The 
Great  Strike"),  and  as  the  Earl  of  Oxford,  in  the 
Fifth  Act  of  "King  Richard  III."  At  this  time, 
also,  he  witnessed  the  first  appearance  (August  20, 
1877)  on  the  American  Stage  of  that  lovely  actress 
and  still  more  lovely  woman, — the  gentle,  beautiful, 
and  ever  lamented  Helena  Modjeska.  She  had 
gone  to  California,  1876,  as  one  of  a  party  of  eight 
persons,  Polish  emigrants,  who  attempted  to  form 
a  colony  there,  somewhat  on  the  model  of  the  Brook 
Farm  movement.  That  attempt  failing,  Modjeska 
was  compelled  to  turn  again  to  the  Stage, — in 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    lOi 

Poland  she  had  been  among  the  leaders  of  the  dra 
matic  profession, — and  after  much  difficulty  she 
finally  obtained,  through  the  interest  of  Governor 
Salomon  of  California,  a  trial  hearing  by  Barton 
Hill,  stage  manager  for  McCullough,  at  the  Cali 
fornia  Theatre. 


[The   following  brief  but   interesting  account   of  Mod- 
jeska's  trial  has  been  published,  elsewhere,  by  my  father. 
.W.] 


Hill  had  little  if  any  knowledge  of  the  foreign 
Stage,  and  he  knew  nothing  of  Modjeska's  ability 
and  reputation.  Her  rare  personal  beauty,  distinc 
tion,  self-confidence,  and  persistence  finally  won 
from  him  a  reluctant  promise  of  a  private  hearing. 
That  promise,  after  interposing  several  delays,  he 
fulfilled,  and  Modjeska's  story,  as  she  told  it  to  me, 
of  her  first  rehearsal  at  the  California  Theatre  was 
piquant  and  comic.  Hill  was  a  worthy  man  and 
a  good  actor.  It  was,  no  doubt,  natural  and  right 
that,  in  dealing  with  a  stranger  applicant  for  theat 
rical  employment,  he  should  have  exercised  the  func 
tions  of  his  position,  but  there  will  always  be  some 
thing  ludicrous  in  the  thought  of  Barton  Hill  sitting 
in  judgment  on  Helena  Modjeska.  "He  was  very 
kind — Meester  Hill,"  said  the  actress;  "but  he  was 
ne-ervous  and  fussy,  and  he  patronized  me  as  though 


102    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

I  were  a  leetle  child.  'Now/  he  said,  'I  shall  be 
very  criti-cal — ve-ery  severe?  I  could  be  patient 
no  longer:  'Be  as  criti-cal  and  severe  as  you  like,' 
I  burst  out,  'only  do,  please,  be  quiet,  and  let  us 
begin!'  He  was  so  surprised  he  could  not  speak, 
and  I  began  at  once  a  scene  from  'Adrienne.'  I 
played  it  through  and  then  turned  to  him.  He  had 
his  handkerchief  in  his  hand  and  was  crying.  He 
came  and  shook  hands  with  me  and  tried  to  seem 
quite  calm.  'Well,'  I  asked,  'may  I  have  the 
evening  that  I  want?'  'I'll  give  you  a  week,  and 
more,  if  I  can,'  he  answered." 


Before  Hill's  approval  of  Modjeska  was  ratified 
she  was  required  to  give  another  "trial  rehearsal," 
at  which  McCullough  and  various  other  persons 
were  present,  and  it  was  Belasco's  privilege  to  be 
among  them.  "I  don't  believe  she  was  called  Mod 
jeska  in  those  days,"  he  writes  [her  name  was 
Modrzejewska — she  shortened  it  to  Modjeska  at  the 
suggestion  of  McCullough];  "but  she  had  within 
her  all  the  charm  and  power  that  afterward  became 
associated  with  her  name.  I  was  in  the  auditorium 
the  day  she  gave  her  first  rehearsal  [error — the  sec 
ond],  and  scattered  here  and  there  were  a  few 
critics.  A  mere  handful  came,  for  there  was  no 
general  interest  in  one  who  was  expected  to  have 
a  gawky  manner  and  a  baffling  accent.  The  unex- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     103 

pected  happened;  those  of  us  who  heard  her  were 
literally  stunned  by  the  power  and  pathos  of  this 
woman.  McCullough  promised  her  a  production 
and  not  long  afterward  she  played  'Adrienne 
Lecouvreur.'  When  the  performance  was  over,  Mr. 
Barnes,  of  'The  San  Francisco  Call,'  the  other 
critics,  and  all  of  us  knew  that  we  had  been  listening 
to  one  of  the  world's  great  artists.  '  It  is  the 
greatest  piece  of  work  in  our  day!'  was  the  general 
verdict.  McCullough  was  wild  with  enthusiasm. 
She  played  her  repertory  in  San  Francisco,  and 
society  took  her  into  its  arms." 

STROLLING  AD  INTERIM.— BELASCO  AS  "THE  FIRST   OLD 

WOMAN." 

In  September,  1877,  during  "Fair  Week,"— 24th 
to  29th, — Belasco  was  stage  manager  of  a  company 
from  the  California  Theatre,  headed  by  Thomas  W. 
Keene,  which  performed  at  the  Petaluma  Theatre, 
in  the  California  town  of  the  same  name,  in  "The 
Lady  of  Lyons,"  "The  Young  Widow,"  "The  Hid 
den  Hand"  (Belasco's  version),  "Robert  Macaire," 
"The  Wife,"  "My  Turn  Next,"  "The  Streets  of 
New  York,"  "The  Rough  Diamond,"  "Deborah," 
and  "The  People's  Lawyer."  Belasco,  besides 
directing  the  stage,  acted  in  those  plays,  respectively, 
as  Monsieur  Deschapelles,  Mandeville,  Craven 


104    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Lenoir,  Pierre,  Lorenzo,  Tom  Bolus,  Dan,  Captain 
Elenham,  Peter,  and  Lawyer  Tripper. 

Soon  after  that  he  joined  a  company,  under  the 
management  of  Frank  I.  Frayne,  known  as  the 
"Frayne  Troupe,"  of  which  M.  B.  Curtis,  "Harry" 
M.  Brown,  E.  N.  Thayer,  Mrs.  "Harry"  Courtaine, 
Gertrude  Granville,  and  Miss  Fletcher  were  also 
members.  He  joined  that  company  at  Humboldt, 
Oregon,  where  the  opening  bill  was  "The  Ticket- 
of -Leave  Man."  Belasco  was  to  play  Melter  Moss, 
but  the  actress  who  was  cast  for  Mrs.  Willougliby 
becoming  ill,  Belasco  (who  knew  all  the  other  parts 
as  well  as  his  own)  volunteered  to  take  her  place 
in  that  character  and  did  so  with  such  success  that 
Frayne  kept  him  in  it:  "I  was  scheduled  to  play  all 
the  first  'old  women'  that  season,"  he  writes  to  me, 
"and  I  found  it  for  some  time  difficult  to  escape  my 
new  'specialty.' ' 

A    SUBSTANTIAL     TRIBUTE. 

Belasco  left  the  "Frayne  Troupe"  about  the 
end  of  January,  1878,  and  returned  to  San 
Francisco.  There  I  trace  him  first  at  the  Bush 
Street  Theatre, — where  he  performed  as  James 
Callin  and  as  Pablo,  in  the  prologue  and  drama  of 
"Across  the  Continent,"  then  first  presented,  by 


Photograph  by    Sarony.  Author's    Collection. 

HELENA  MODJESKA 

Soon  after  her  first  appearance  in  New  York,  1877 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    105 

Oliver  Doud  Byron,  in  San  Francisco, — and,  a  lit 
tle  later,  back  again  at  the  Baldwin  Theatre.  He 
labored  there,  with  short  intermissions,  as  actor  and 
stage  manager,  from  March  26,  1878,  to  the  latter 
part  of  September,  1879.  On  the  former  date  the 
New  York  Union  Square  Theatre  Company 
emerged  at  the  Baldwin  in  "Agnes,"  in  which 
Belasco  played  Rudolphe.  During  the  engagement 
of  the  Union  Square  Company  "One  Hundred 
Years  Old,"  "Saratoga,"  "A  Celebrated  Case,"  and 
Joaquin  Miller's  '  The  Danites"  were  presented 
under  Belasco's  direction,  and,  in  each  of  them,  he 
acted  a  subsidiary  part.  His  services  as  director 
proved  so  valuable  that  when  the  engagement  was 
ended  and  the  company  made  a  tour  of  Pacific 
Slope  towns  an  arrangement  was  effected  with 
Maguire  whereby  Belasco  accompanied  it.  The  tour 
lasted  until  the  end  of  May,  and  it  was  followed 
by  a  brief  return  season  in  San  Francisco.  At  its 
close  the  company,  which  included  O'Neill,  Charles 
B.  Bishop,  Rose  Wood,  and  F.  F.  Mackay,  pre 
sented  to  Belasco  a  purse  of  $200  in  gold  "as  an 
expression  of  appreciation  of  his  services  and  esteem 
for  himself."  The  presentation  was  made,  in  pres 
ence  of  the  assembled  company,  on  the  stage  of  the 
Baldwin  Theatre,  by  F.  F.  Mackay,  who,  in  making 
it,  read  the  following  letter: 


106    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

(F.  F.  Mackay,  for  the  New  York  Union  Square  Theatrical 
Company,  to  David  Belasco.) 

"DEAR  MR.  DAVID  BELASCO  : — 

"In  behalf  of  the  members  of  the  Union  Square  Com 
pany,  I  extend  sincere  thanks  for  your  unvarying  courtesy 
and  for  your  able  direction  of  our  efforts.  With  our  thanks 
are  mingled  a  large  measure  of  congratulations  for  your 
ability.  Your  quick  apprehension  and  remarkable  analytical 
ability  in  discovering  and  describing  the  mental  intentions 
of  an  author  are  so  superior  to  anything  we  have  heretofore 
experienced  that  we  feel  sure  that  the  position  of  master 
dramatic  director  of  the  American  Stage  must  finally  fall 
on  you.  Personally,  I  take  great  pleasure  in  thus  expressing 
the  feelings  and  the  wishes  of  the  company,  and  have  the 
honor  to  subscribe  myself, 

"Yours  truly, 

"F.  F.  MACKAY." 


"OLIVIA"    AND    "PROOF     POSITIVE." 

On  July  8  a  revival  was  effected  at  the  Baldwin 
of  Boucicault's  "The  Octoroon,"  "re-touched  and 
re-arranged"  by  Belasco.  This,  and  a  double  bill, 
comprising  Byron's  "Dearer  Than  Life"  and  "The 
Post  of  Honor," — brought  out  on  August  5, — filled 
the  summer  season,  and  on  September  2  Belasco's 
play  in  five  acts  entitled  "Olivia," — the  first  dramati 
zation  of  Goldsmith's  "The  Vicar  of  Wakefield"  to 
be  acted  in  California, — was  produced  with  the  fol 
lowing  notable  cast: 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    107 

Dr.  Primrose A.  D.  Bradley. 

Squire  Thornhill ,.  .Lewis  Morrison. 

Mr.  Burchdl.  ...  . , James  O'Neill. 

Moses   ,.  .  .William  Seymour. 

George .Forrest  Robinson. 

Jenkinson : i .  .C.  B.  Bishop. 

Olivia Rose  Wood. 

Sophia , Jean  Burnside. 

Mrs.  Primrose Mrs.  Farren. 

Arabella  Wilmot.  ., ., Belle  Chapman. 

Belasco's  dramatic  epitome  adhered  to  Gold 
smith's  story  as  closely  as  is  feasible  for  stage  pur 
poses;  it  was  an  effective  play,  it  was  admirably  set 
upon  the  stage  and  acted,  and  it  gained  substantial 
success.  "Those  were  strenuous  times  for  me,"  he 
writes;  "every  one  was  thrusting  duties  on  me  then 
which,  as  I  was  always  a  glutton  for  work,  I 
grasped  as  opportunities.  One  lesson  I  learned  at 
the  Baldwin  which  I  have  never  forgotten — that  one 
of  the  greatest  mistakes  a  man  can  make  is  the  mis 
take  of  permitting  anybody  else  to  do  his  work  for 
him.  I  wrote  'Olivia'  between  times,  as  it  were,  and 
I  was  genuinely  surprised  by  its  success." 

After  the  run  of  "Olivia"  J.  C.  Williamson  and 
his  wife,  "Maggie"  Moore,  came  to  the  Baldwin, — 
opening  in  "Struck  Oil," — and  Belasco,  while  direct 
ing  the  stage  for  them,  completed  an  alteration  of 
Wills'  "A  Woman  of  the  People,"— which  was 


108    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

brought  forth  October  14, — and  a  play,  made  at 
the  request  of  Rose  Wood,  which  he  called  "Proof 
Positive,"  based  on  an  old  melodrama.  This  was 
produced  on  October  28,  and  in  it  James  O'Neill 
gained  a  notable  success  in  the  character  of  an 
eccentric,  semi-comic  Jew. 


BELASCO'S    VERSION    OF    "NOT    GUILTY." 

Clara  Morris  made  her  first  appearance  in  San 
Francisco  at  the  Baldwin,  November  4,  as  Miss 
Multon,  and  continued  to  act  there  for  about  eight 
weeks.  During  that  time  Belasco  was  able  to 
bestow  some  attention  and  labor  on  an  original  play 
of  his  called  "The  Lone  Pine,"  in  which  he  had 
acted  at  Sacramento  and  a  few  other  "interior 
places"  during  a  brief  starring  venture,  and  which 
he  desired  entirely  to  rewrite.  In  December,  how 
ever,  he  was  compelled  to  lay  aside  that  work  and 
turn  again  to  hack  playwrighting  for  the  Baldwin 
company.  His  election  fell  on  Watts  Phillips'  old 
spectacle  play  of  "Not  Guilty,"  which  he  altered 
and  adapted  in  less  than  one  week.  It  was 
announced  as  "The  Grand  Production  of  the  Mag 
nificent  Musical,  Military,  Dramatic,  and  Spectacu 
lar  (sic)  Christmas  Piece,  which  has  been  given  for 
eight  successive  Christmas  seasons  in  Philadelphia," 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    109 

and  it  was  produced  for  the  first  time  at  the  Baldwin 
on  December  24,  1878.     This  was  the  cast: 

Robert  Arnold James   O'Neill. 

Silas  Jarrett .Lewis  Morrison. 

Jack  Snipe C.  B.  Bishop. 

Isaac  Vider ...  J.  W.  Jennings. 

Joe  Triggs .James  A.  Herne. 

Trumble A.  D.  Bradley. 

St.  Clair.  . Forrest  Robinson. 

Lai  Singh ...... William   Seymour. 

Sergeant   Wattles. John   N.  Long. 

Polecat  ... ,. ., King  Hedley. 

Alice  Armitage .  .  .Rose  Wood. 

Polly  Dobbs May  Hart. 

All  the  work  of  adaptation  and  stage  manage 
ment  was  done  by  Belasco — and  for  it  he  received 
the  munificent  payment  of  $12.50  a  performance. 
Recalling  the  production,  he  writes:  "A  'stock 
dramatist'  at  that  time  was  obliged  to  do  his  work 
on  short  notice,  and  it  was  taken  as  a  matter  of 
course  that  I  should  get  a  play  ready  for  rehearsal 
in  less  than  a  week,  and  put  it  on  in  less  than 
another  week.  'Not  Guilty'  was  very  spectacular 
(sic),  and  with  my  customary  leaning  to  warfare  I 
introduced  a  Battle  Scene,  with  several  hundred 
people  in  an  embarkation,  as  well  as  horses  and  can 
non.  This  embarkation  alone  used  to  take  ten 


110    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

minutes.  It  has  all  been  done  in  many  plays  since 
— the  booming  of  guns,  the  padding  of  the  horses' 
hoofs  on  earth  and  stone,  the  moving  crowds  in 
sight  and  larger  ones  suggested,  beyond  the  range 
of  vision, — but  this  was  the  original,  and  it  was 
wonderfully  effective,  if  I  do  say  it  myself." 
Belasco's  view  agrees  with  that  recorded  by  all  com 
petent  observers  of  the  time — one  of  the  most  con 
servative  of  whom  wrote,  in  "The  San  Francisco 
Evening  Bulletin,"  that  "the  Battle  Scene,  in  the 
Fourth  Act,  was  about  the  most  realistic  ever  pro 
duced  on  the  stage."  An  operatic  chorus  of  more 
than  eighty  voices  was  employed  and  "The  Cameron 
Cadets" — a  local  military  organization — participated 
"in  full  Highland  costume." 


WITHDRAWAL  PROM  THE  BALDWIN.— "THE  LONE  PINE'' 
AND  DENMAN  THOMPSON. 

Belasco  withdrew  from  the  Baldwin  Theatre  com 
pany  immediately  after  the  "run"  of  "Not  Guilty." 
He  was  in  danger  of  becoming  exhausted  by  over 
work  and  he  was  resentful  of  mean  treatment  to 
which  he  had  been  subjected.  Lewis  Morrison,  who 
had  suggested  Phillips'  old  spectacle  for  altera 
tion,  and  Frederick  Lyster,  who  had  caused  the 
introduction  in  it  of  music  selected  from  the  opera 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    111 

of  "Carmen,"  by  connivance  with  Maguire,  charged 
a  "royalty"  of  twelve  per  cent,  against  the  gross 
receipts  from  representations  of  that  play,  although 
Belasco  was  paid  for  his  service  only  about  one  per 
cent.  This  injustice,  coming  to  the  knowledge  of 
Baldwin,  greatly  incensed  him,  and  in  order  to 
remedy  it  he  gave  to  Belasco  $1,000.  With  that 
sum  added  to  his  savings  he  felt  at  liberty  to  desist 
for  a  time  from  the  exacting  requirements  of 
employment  under  Maguire,  but  in  about  two 
months  he  had  resumed  his  old  position,  going  back 
at  the  earnest  request  of  Herne.  In  his  "Story"  he 
gives  the  following  account  of  his  experience  in  the 
interim : 

"J.  M.  Hill,  the  pioneer  of  page  advertising,  brought 
Denman  Thompson  to  the  Bush  Street  Theatre  in  'Joshua 
Whitcomb,'  startling  San  Francisco  by  a  lavish  press  work, 
which  had  never  been  heard  of  before.  'Young  man,9  Hill 
said  to  me,  'I  want  you  to  see  Thompson,  and  to  study  him. 
If  you  find  him  a  play,  there  may  be  a  fortune  in  it  for 
you.'  When  I  met  Thompson  afterwards  and  he  suggested 
that  we  collaborate,  I  told  him  that  such  a  proposition  was 
quite  impossible,  but  that  I  had  been  working  on  a  play  not 
yet  finished,  ["The  Lone  Pine  "]  and  that  I  would  send  it 
to  him.  I  told  him  and  Hill  the  gist  of  the  story,  and  then 
and  there  the  latter  drew  up  a  contract,  giving  me  a  retainer 
of  $1,000  and  tempting  me  with  the  proposition  that  were 
the  piece  a  success  I  might  get  eight  hundred  a  week  out  of 
it.  In  due  course  of  time  I  completed  two  acts  and  sent  them 


112    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

on  to  him  in  New  York.  Soon  I  received  a  message:  'We 
like  your  manuscript.  Bring  acts  three  and  four  yourself. 
Railroad  fares  arranged.'  When  I  reached  New  York  I 
went  to  the  Union  Square  Hotel  and  there  met  Hill  and 
Thompson  again.  It  was  like  giving  a  part  of  myself  when 
I  handed  over  the  Third  Act  of  « The  Lone  Pine.'  To  my 
dismay,  Thompson  began  to  give  suggestions,  explaining 
what  he  intended  to  do,  making  of  his  part  a  youthful 
Joshua  Whit  comb,  with  a  fine  sprinkling  of  slang  and  curses, 
and  although  I  knew  that  if  I  could  give  this  man  a  successful 
play  I  could  make  a  fortune — thirty-two  hundred  a  month, 
perhaps  more! — I  could  not  bring  myself  to  do  it.  I  went 
to  my  hotel  and  wrote  Hill  a  letter,  explaining  the  conclu 
sion  I  had  come  to,  and  returning  the  thousand  dollars 
retaining  fee.  But  Hill  would  hear  none  of  this  and  grew  very 
angry  trying  to  make  me  see  Thompson's  point  of  view  and 
sending  back  the  retainer.  To  avoid  any  further  discus 
sion,  I  boarded  a  train  and  left  New  York,  having  seen  very 
little  of  the  city.  Hill's  parting  message  was :  '  If  I  don't 
produce  that  play,  no  one  shall.'  They  never  returned  my 
manuscript,  and  years  after,  when  I  was  stage-manager  at 
the  Madison  Square,  I  thought  that  it  would  be  a  fitting 
successor  to  my  *  May  Blossom,'  which  I  had  just  produced. 
So  I  went  to  Dr.  Mallory  and  told  him  of  the  Thompson- 
Hill  episode.  He  had  a  streak  of  the  fighter  in  him,  and 
suggested  that  I  sue  Hill  for  the  recovery  of  the  manuscript. 
After  some  preliminary  proceedings  we  were  persuaded  that 
Hill  had  actually  lost  the  manuscript,  even  though  he  still 
refused  to  release  me  from  my  contract.  So  the  suit  was 
withdrawn,  for  there  was  nothing  to  go  upon. 

"During  the  days  when  Hill  was  manager  of  the  New  York 
Standard  Theatre  we  met  again,  and  I  did  some  work  for 
him.  It  was  then  that  he  returned  me  my  contract.  Then, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    113 

a  miracle  of  miracles  happened,  at  the  time  of  the  razing  of 
the  Union  Square  Hotel.  The  clerk  sent  for  Mr.  Ryan  (who 
afterwards  played  in  'Naughty  Anthony'),  and  told  him 
that  in  one  of  the  back  rooms  he  had  found  a  bundle  of 
papers  behind  some  old  books.  My  lost  manuscript  was  at 
last  found !  Some  day;  I  may;  finish  it  for  David  Warfield." 


"WITHIN    AN    INCH    OF    HIS    LIFE." 

Belasco  was  re-employed  by  Maguire  during  the 
first  days  of  February,  1879,  and  he  at  once 
resumed  his  multiform  labor  as  stage  manager, 
prompter,  and  playwright.  The  Baldwin  Theatre 
was  profitably  occupied  by  the  Wilson,  Primrose 
&  West  Minstrel  Company  and  his  first  work  was 
done  at  the  Grand  Opera  House,  which  Maguire 
had  leased,  and  where,  February  17,  "the  legitimate 
company  from  Baldwin's"  appeared  in  Belasco's 
dramatization  of  Gaboriau's  story  of  "Within  an 
Inch  of  His  Life."  This  melodrama,  advertised  as 
"the  most  powerful  play  ever  acted,"  was  the 
product  of  "a  week  of  strenuous  days  and  sleepless 
nights,"  it  was  produced  as  a  stopgap,  and — so 
Belasco  writes — "the  makeshift,  like  so  many  acci 
dental  productions,  was  an  instant  success."  That 
success  was,  in  large  part,  due  to  a  striking 
mechanical  effect,  devised  and  introduced  by  Belasco, 
representative  of  a  conflagration,  described  in  the 


114    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

newspapers  of  the  day  as  "the  terrific  fire  spectacle," 
about  which  its  inventor  has  given  me  this  informa 
tion:  "The  fire  was  in  the  First  Act.  I  did  away 
with  the  lycopodium  boxes  and  made  my  'flames'  by 
a  series  of  red  and  yellow  strips  of  silk,  fanned  from 
beneath  by  bellows  and  lit  by  colored  lights.  Some 
complaint  was  made  of  danger  to  the  theatre  and 
the  authorities  came  upon  the  stage  to  investigate: 
they  were  a  good  deal  nonplussed  at  finding  the 
'fire'  nothing  but  pieces  of  silk!" 

"Within  an  Inch  of  His  Life"  was  acted  at  the 
Grand  Opera  House  until  March  1,  when  it  was 
withdrawn  to  make  way  for  "The  Passion."  This 
was  the  cast  of  its  original  production: 

Jules  de  Dardewlle .................  .James  O'Neill. 

Dr.  Seignebos ,.  .;. J.  W.  Jennings. 

Count  de  Clairnot. ... .. James  A.  Herne. 

Falpin .  . A.  D.  Bradley. 

Reibolt William  Seymour. 

Gauchey , ,. , John  N.  Long. 

Cocolean ...... Lewis  Morrison. 

Countess  de  Clairnot Rose  Wood. 

Dionysia  Chandore Katherine  Corcoran. 

SALMI    MORSE'S    "PASSION     PLAY." 

At  about  the  beginning  of  February,  1879,  the 
popular  and  distinguished  actor  James  O'Neill,  now 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    115 

long  famous  for  his  performance  of  Monte  Cristo, 
became  enthusiastically  interested  in  a  spectacle 
drama  by  Salmi  Morse  (1826-1884),  called  "The 
Passion  Play,"  the  presentment  of  which  that  author 
had  long  been  earnestly  but  vainly  endeavoring  to 
effect,  in  San  Francisco.  O'Neill  was  desirous  of 
impersonating  Jesus  Christ,  a  part  to  which  he  con 
sidered  himself  peculiarly  fitted,  and  he  presently 
succeeded  in  persuading  Maguire,  the  manager,  to 
produce  Morse's  drama.  Baldwin  was  induced  to 
provide  financial  support  for  the  enterprise.  Belasco 
was  engaged  as  stage  manager,  after  the  preliminary 
rehearsals  had  been  conducted  under  direction  of 
Henry  Brown,  who  officiated  as  prompter.  Elabo 
rate  and  handsome  scenery  was  built  and  painted. 
Henry  Widmer  (1845-1895),  in  after  years  long 
associated  with  Daly's  Theatre  in  New  York,  was 
employed  as  leader  of  the  orchestra,  and  illustrative 
incidental  music  for  the  play  was  composed  by  him. 
Belasco  rehearsed  the  company  and  superintended 
the  stage.  The  first  representation  occurred  on 
March  3,  1879,  at  the  Grand  Opera  House,  and  it 
caused  much  public  interest  and  controversy. 
O'Neill's  impersonation  of  Jesus  was  fervently 
admired.  Belasco,  commenting  on  it  and  on  its  effect 
on  "the  poor  people"  whom  he  "saw  on  their  knees, 
praying  and  sobbing,"  wrote  that  the  actor,  "with 


116    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

his  delicacy,  refinement,  and  grandeur,  typified  the 
real  Prophet,  and,  I  believe,  to  himself  he  was  the 
Prophet." 

NOT    THE    OBERAMMERGAU    DRAMA. 

Morse's  play  was  not  the  fabric  customarily  offered 
at  Oberammergau,  nor  was  it  in  any  particular  an 
imitation.  In  the  declared  opinion  of  Morse,  an 
apostate  Hebrew,  that  concoction  had  been  devised 
and  performed  for  the  purpose  of  arousing  and  stim 
ulating  hostility  against  the  Jews,  and  he  pro 
foundly  disapproved  of  it.  His  purpose,  he  avowed, 
was  simply  to  present  an  epitome  of  the  life  of 
Jesus,  as  described  in  the  gospels.  He  had  taken 
the  thrifty  precaution  to  read  his  play  before  an 
assemblage  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  of  San 
Francisco  (the  Protestant  ecclesiastics  not  accepting 
his  liberal  invitation  to  enjoy  that  luxury),  and  it 
had  received  their  approbation.  Several  of  the  holy 
fathers,  indeed,  had  evinced  their  approval  of  it 
by  kissing  him  on  both  his  cheeks,  and  Archbishop 
Allemany,  of  San  Francisco,  had  not  only  sanctioned 
the  precious  composition  but  had  inserted  several 
passages  into  the  text  with  his  own  sacerdotal  hand. 
The  play  was  comprised  in  ten  acts  (at  least,  that 
was  its  form  when,  in  1880,  in  the  vestibule  of  the 
Park  Theatre,  Broadway  and  Twenty-second  Street, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    117 

New  York,  I  heard  half  of  it  read  by  the  author 
and  was  permitted  to  inspect  the  whole  manuscript), 
and  it  consisted  of  a  long  series  of  dialogues  accompa 
nied  by  pictures  and  tableaux.  I  know  not  whether 
the  whole  ten  acts  were  vouchsafed  to  the  San  Fran 
cisco  audience,  but,  according  to  contemporaneous 
records,  the  play  gave  much  offence  to  many  persons 
and  was  incentive  to  some  public  disturbances  and 
breaches  of  the  peace:  ignorant  Irish  who  witnessed 
it  were  so  distempered  that,  on  going  forth,  some 
of  them,  from  time  to  time,  assaulted  peaceable  Jews 
in  the  public  streets — much  in  the  spirit  of  the  irate 
mariner  who  chanced  to  hear  first  of  the  Crucifixion 
nearly  2,000  years  after  it  occurred.  Belasco  records 
that  a  committee  of  citizens  called  on  Maguire  and 
"worked  upon  his  credulous  nature  until  he  believed 
that  he  was  marked  by  the  devil  for  sacrifice  and 
would  meet  with  instant  death  if  he  did  not  with 
draw  the  play,"  and  that  "in  a  fever  of  fear  he  closed 
the  theatre," — March  11.  A  little  later,  however, 
Maguire's  torrid  temperature  appears  to  have  abated, 
and  the  play  was  again  brought  forward,  April  15, 
at  the  Grand  Opera  House,  but  this  time  it  was  met 
by  an  injunction,  issued  from  the  Fourth  (Munici 
pal)  District  Court,  Judge  Robert  Francis  Morrison 
presiding,  which,  being  disregarded,  was  followed  by 
the  arrest  of  O'Neill  (who  was  imprisoned),  April 


118    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

21,  and  of  his  professional  associates,  all  of  them, 
subsequently,  being  convicted  of  contempt  of  court 
and  fined  for  that  offence, — O'Neill  $50  and  each 
of  the  other  players  $5.  Belasco  escaped  arrest 
through  the  kindly  interference  of  the  local  Sheriff, 
a  friend  of  his,  who  forcibly  kept  him  away  from 
the  theatre  when  the  other  participants  in  the  repre 
sentation  were  being  taken  into  police  custody.  The 
following  notice  appeared  in  "The  Alta  California," 
April  22,  1879: 

"GRAND  OPERA  HOUSE. — The  management  has  the  honor 
to  announce  that  in  deference  to  public  opinion  'The 
Passion'  will  no  longer  be  presented." 


CONSTITUENTS    OF    MORSE'S    PLAY. 

There  is  nothing  in  Morse's  play  that  could  exert 
an  immoral  influence.  There  is  no  irreverence  in 
either  its  spirit  or  its  incidents.  It  is  merely  a  goody- 
goody,  tiresome  composition,  full  of  moral  twaddle, 
and  consisting  in  about  equal  degree  of  platitude 
and  bombast.  It  purports  to  be  written  in  blank 
verse,  but  it  is,  in  fact,  written  in  nondescript  lines 
of  unequal  length,  halting,  irregular,  formless,  weak, 
and  diffuse.  Choruses  of  rhymed  doggerel  occur 
in  it,  at  intervals,  sometimes  uttered  by  women, 
sometimes, — on  the  contrary, — by  angels.  Stress  is 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    119 

laid  on  the  efforts  of  Pontius  Pilate  to  save  Jesus 
from  the  fury  of  the  mob.  There  is  a  succession  of 
pictures.  In  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem  many  females 
appear,  carrying  babes,  and  a  ferocious  Jew,  essay 
ing  to  kill  the  infant  Jesus,  falls  back  astounded  and 
overwhelmed  by  the  aspect  of  the  sacred  infant. 
Later,  Joseph,  Mary,  and  the  Holy  Child  are  shown 
environed  and  protected  by  a  branching  sycamore 
tree,  while,  in  the  mountains  all  around  them,  many 
shrieking  women  and  children  are  slaughtered  by 
ruffianly  soldiers.  In  a  sequent  picture  King  Herod, 
uttering  a  multiplicity  of  aphorisms,  wrangles  with 
his  wife,  Herodias,  and  the  seductive  Salome  dances 
before  them  and  wins  for  her  mother  the  head  of 
her  enemy,  John  the  Baptist,  which  pleasing  trophy, 
wrapped  in  a  napkin,  is  brought  in  on  a  tray.  Jesus 
and  his  disciples  are  then  shown  at  the  brook  of 
Kedron.  The  agony  of  Jesus  in  the  Garden  of 
Gethsemane  is  depicted  and  the  betrayal  by  Judas, 
the  latter  scene  being  double,  to  show,  on  one  side, 
a  lighted  room  in  which  is  reproduced  a  semblance 
of  "The  Last  Supper"  according  to  the  admired  pict 
ure  by  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  and  on  the  other  a 
gloomy  range  of  plains  and  hills  dimly  lighted  by 
the  stars.  In  this  scene  passages  from  the  New 
Testament  are  incorporated  into  Morse's  play,  in  the 
part  of  Jesus.  The  arraignment  of  Jesus  before 


120    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Pilate  follows,  including  the  wrangle  between  the 
furious  people  and  that  clement  magistrate,  and 
ending  with  the  investiture  of  Jesus  with  the  Crown 
of  Thorns.  The  final  picture  shows  Golgotha,  under 
a  midnight  sky,  and  the  removal  of  the  dead  body 
from  the  Cross. 


AS    TO    PROPRIETY. 

Salmi  Morse,  in  conversation  with  me  and  my  old 
comrade  Dr.  Charles  Phelps,  at  the  time  of  the  read 
ing  in  the  vestibule  of  the  Park  Theatre,  said  that 
he  began  "The  Passion  Play"  with  the  intention  of 
writing  a  poem  like  Milton's  "Paradise  Lost,"  but 
soon  discovered  that  the  Byronic  style,  as  evinced 
in  "Cain,"  was  more  consonant  than  the  Miltonic 
style  with  his  subject  and  his  genius,  and  accordingly 
determined  to  write  not  like  Milton  but  like  Byron; 
and  he  added  that  his  drama  was  really  not,  at  first, 
intended  for  the  Stage,  but  for  publication  in  a  book. 
That  was  a  discreet  judgment,  from  which  it  is  a 
pity  that  he  ever  departed.  I  have  not,  however, 
been  able  at  any  time  to  perceive  what  decisive  moral 
reason  there  is  why  "The  Passion  Play"  should  not 
be  presented  on  the  stage.  Reasons  other  than  moral 
can  readily  be  assigned:  it  is  a  matter  of  Taste,  in 
which  it  is  a  gross  injustice  to  employ  the  police 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    121 

power  as  a  corrective,  and  a  matter  of  Public  Policy, 
in  which,  with  due  consideration,  the  police  power 
can  properly  be  invoked.  Familiar  treatment  of 
things  widely  considered  sacred  is,  perhaps,  likely 
to  lower  them,  except  with  very  ignorant  persons, 
in  sanctity  and  dignity,  and  certainly  it  does  lower 
them  with  many  persons  of  fine  intelligence  and 
taste.  In  the  end  of  a  church  in  Heidelberg  there 
is,  or  was,  visible,  through  a  long  window,  a  full- 
length  effigy  of  Christ  on  the  Cross,  which  swings 
to  and  fro  as  a  pendulum  to  the  clock,  and  in  a 
church  at  Mayence  there  is  a  life-size  figure  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  seated,  with  the  body  of  the  dead 
Christ,  also  life-size,  lying  across  her  knees.  I 
remember  looking  on  those  objects  with  aversion. 
To  see,  in  a  theatre,  a  man,  impersonating  the  Christ, 
washing  the  feet  of  another  man  will,  generally, 
give  offence.  Religious  bigotry  is  a  curse  to  civiliza 
tion,  and  nothing  should  be  conceded  to  it,  but  cer 
tainly  the  scruples  of  religious  persons  should  receive 
reasonable  respect. 

"THE    PASSION    PLAY"    IN    NEW    YORK. 

After  the  suppression  of  his  "Passion  Play"  in 
California  Morse  brought  it  to  New  York  and 
offered  it  to  Henry  E.  Abbey,  then  a  prominent 


122    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

speculative  manager,  who,  for  a  time,  entertained 
the  purpose  of  producing  it  at  Booth's  Theatre.  A 
drop  curtain  was  painted,  showing  a  flight  of  angels 
toward  Heaven  on  Easter  morning,  and  the  purpose 
of  Morse  was  made  known  to  remove  the  statue  of 
Shakespeare  from  the  top  of  the  proscenium  arch 
and  to  substitute  a  large  cross  in  its  place.  Obstacles 
intervened, — disapproval,  voiced  in  the  newspaper 
press,  being  one  of  them,  and  the  destruction  of 
Abbey's  New  Park  Theatre  by  fire  (October  30, 
1882),  in  which  conflagration  all  the  costumes  were 
destroyed,  being  another, — and  that  project  was 
abandoned.  Prior  to  that  mishap  Morse  gave  a  read 
ing  of  the  play,  December  3,  1880,  at  the  Cooper 
Institute;  and  later,  February- April,  1883,  ineffect 
ual  efforts  were  made  by  the  author  (which  brought 
him  before  Judge  George  C.  Barrett,  of  the  New 
York  Supreme  Court)  to  present  it  in  a  house 
which  he  rented  and  called  Salmi  Morse's  Temple 
(afterward  known  as  Proctor's  Twenty-third  Street 
Theatre).  His  endeavors  were  finally  blocked  by  an 
injunction,  and  the  venture  was  heard  of  no  more. 
Belasco  was  in  New  York  at  the  time  of  Morse's  at 
tempt  to  have  his  "Passion  Play"  represented  there, 
and  Morse  wished  him  to  undertake  the  stage  direc 
tion  of  it,  but  being  otherwise  employed,  and  also 
clearly  perceiving  the  public  antipathy  to  the  proj- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     123 

ect,  he  discreetly  declined  to  participate  in  the 
enterprise.  On  February  22,  1884,  the  unfortunate 
Morse  met  death  by  drowning,  in  the  Hudson  River, 
near  Harlem,  and  he  was  thought  to  have  committed 
suicide. 


BELASCO'S    SERVICES    TO    MORSE'S    ENTERPRISE. 

The  successful  presentment  of  Morse's  play  in 
California  was  due  to  the  sincerity  and  ability  of 
O'Neill  and  to  the  ardent  enthusiasm  of  Belasco, 
who  revelled  in  the  opportunities  which  he  discovered 
for  pictorial  display:  he  explored  every  accessible 
source  for  paintings  to  be  copied  and  for  suggestions 
as  to  costume,  color,  and  "atmosphere,"  and,  particu 
larly,  he  made  use  of  every  expedient  of  "realistic" 
effect.  Belasco  writes  of  this:  "I  had  seen  'The 
Passion  Play'  in  Europe,  but,  without  prejudice, 
our  little  far-western  town  held  the  honors."  That 
statement  involves  a  slip  of  memory.  He  had,  in 
March,  1879,  been  as  far  east  as  New  York,  but 
his  first  visit  to  Europe  did  not  occur  till  1884*. 
His  view  of  the  Oberammergau  performance  was 
obtained  long  after  the  presentment  of  Morse's 
play  in  San  Francisco.  The  following  reminiscence 
by  Belasco  of  the  California  representation  of  "The 
Passion  Play"  is  instructive: 


124    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

"How  we  scoured  San  Francisco, — school,  church,  and 
theatre, — for  people  to  put  in  our  cast !  Every  actor  who 
was  out  of  employment  was  sure  of  finding  something  to 
do  in  our  mob  scenes.  I  cannot  conceive,  in  the  history  of 
the  Theatre,  a  more  complete  or  a  more  perfect  cast. 

"We  engaged  200  singers ;  we  marshalled  400  men,  women, 
children,  and  infants  in  our  ensembles.  And  in  the  prepara 
tion  every  one  seemed  to  be  inspired.  .  .  .  O'Neill,  as  the 
preparations  progressed,  grew  more  and  more  obsessed.  He 
gave  up  smoking;  all  the  little  pleasures  of  life  he  denied 
himself.  Any  man  who  used  a  coarse  word  during  rehearsals 
was  dismissed.  He  walked  the  streets  of  the  city  with  the 
expression  of  a  holy  man  on  his  face.  Whenever  he  drew 
near  a  hush  prevailed  such  as  one  does  not  often  find  out 
side  a  church.  The  boards  of  the  stage  became  Holy  Land. 

"I  also  became  a  veritable  monomaniac  on  the  subject; 
I  was  never  without  a  Bible  under  my  arm.  I  went  to  the 
Mercantile  Library  and  there  studied  the  color  effects  in  the 
two  memorable  canvases  there  hung,  depicting  the  dance 
of  Salome  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  My  life  seemed  changed 
as  never  before,  and  once  more  my  thoughts  began  to  play 
with  monastery  life,  and  I  thought  of  the  days  spent  in 
Vancouver  with  my  priest  friend. 

"The  play  traced  the  whole  sequence  of  historical  events 
leading  to  the  Crucifixion  and  the  Resurrection,  and  I 
remember  how  many  effects  we  had  to  evolve  for  ourselves. 
In  the  Massacre  of  the  Innocents  we  had  a  hundred 
mothers  on  the  stage,  with  their  babes  in  their  arms.  In 
the  scene  where  Joseph  and  Mary  came  down  the  moun 
tain  side  we  had  a  flock  of  real  sheep  following  in  their 
wake.  The  entire  performance  was  given  with  a  simplicity 
that  amounted  to  grandeur.  All  was  accomplished  by  fab 
rics  and  stage  lighting,  and  when  O'Neill  came  up  from  his 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     125 

dressing  room  and  appeared  on  the  stage  with  a  halo 
about  him  women  sank  on  their  knees  and  prayed,  and 
when  he  was  stripped  and  dragged  before  Pontius  Pilate, 
crowned  with  a  crown  of  thorns,  many  fainted. 

"I  have  produced  many  plays  in  many  parts  of  the 
world,  but  never  have  I  seen  an  audience  awed  as  by  'The 
Passion  Play.'  The  greatest  performance  of  a  generation 
was  the  Christus  of  James  O'Neill." 

"The  Passion  Play"  was  succeeded  at  the  Grand 
Opera  House  by  a  melodrama  entitled  "The  New 
Babylon,"  produced  under  the  stage  management  of 
Belasco;  and,  on  May  5,  at  the  Baldwin,  an  adapta 
tion  by  him  of  Sardou's  "La  Famille  Benoiton!" 
was  brought  out  under  the  name  of  "A  Fast 
Family."  This  was  performed  for  a  fortnight,  dur 
ing  which  Belasco  wrote  a  play  which  he  called 
"The  Millionaire's  Daughter,"  and  contrived  for  its 
presentment  a  remarkably  handsome  and  effective 
scenic  investiture. 


"THE    MILLIONAIRE'S    DAUGHTER." 

Bronson  Howard's  play  of  "The  Banker's  Daugh 
ter"  (one  act  of  which  was  written  by  A.  R.  Cazau- 
ran)  was  produced,  for  the  first  time,  November  30, 
1878,  at  the  Union  Square  Theatre,  New  York, 
where  it  held  the  stage  till  April  16,  1879,  receiving 
137  performances.  It  was  regarded  as  one  of  the 


126    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

"sensations"  of  the  time,  and  Maguire,  desiring  to 
secure  its  presentment  at  the  Baldwin  Theatre,  began 
negotiations  to  that  end  with  Palmer  early  in  1879. 
Palmer  named  terms  that  Maguire  would  not,  or 
could  not,  meet  and  they  were  rejected.  But  a  new 
play  was  urgently  required  for  the  Baldwin,  and 
Maguire  turned  to  Belasco,  asking,  "Can't  you  make 
something  for  us  on  similar  lines?"  Belasco  readily 
agreed  to  do  this,  but  presently  expressed  doubt  as 
to  Baldwin's  consent  to  pay  the  heavy  price  of  cer 
tain  novel  expedients  of  stage-setting  which  he 
wished  to  use. 

"In  my  principal  scene,"  he  said  to  me,  "I 
wanted  a  striking,  new  effect, — walls  of  a  delicate 
pink,  hung  with  rich  lace,  and  I  knew  it  would  cost 
a  lot.  I  went  to  Baldwin  about  it,  after  talking  to 
Maguire,  who  thought  it  impossible,  and  told  him 
the  story  of  my  play,  and  what  I  wanted  to  do  in 
the  way  of  settings,  and  my  fear  about  expenses. 
Baldwin  said,  'I  understand  Palmer's  coming  out 
here,  to  the  California,  with  "The  Banker's  Daugh 
ter."  I  think  he  tried  to  stick  us  up  on  that  piece, 
and  I'd  like  to  beat  him.  We  don't  need  to  go  to 
so  much  expense  as  you  think,  Davy.  You  say  you 
want  laces:  well,  I'll  let  you  have  some  lace,  such 
as  nobody  has  ever  seen  on  a  stage!'  And  he  did. 
It  was  real  antique  stuff,  belonging  to  his  daughter 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     127 

and  himself,  from  their  home.  I  designed  the  scene 
as  I  wanted  it,  had  plain  set  pieces  painted  (they 
cost  us  only  a  few  dollars)  in  delicate  shades  of  pink, 
and  draped  Baldwin's  lace  over  them.  The  effect 
was  beautiful, — I've  never  seen  anything  of  the  kind 
as  good, — and  it  looked  like  the  room  of  'a  million 
aire's  daughter.'  But  I  was  glad  when  the  run  was 
over  and  the  stuff  safely  back  in  Baldwin's  home: 
there  was  over  $80,000  worth  of  it  used  in  that  set, 
and  it  kept  me  anxious  all  the  time." 

Belasco's  play  of  ''The  Millionaire's  Daughter" 
was  produced  at  the  Baldwin  Theatre  on  May  19, 
1879,  and  it  was  received  with  much  favor.  It  tells 
the  story  of  a  woman  who  marries  one  man  while 
believing  herself  to  be  in  love  with  another,  but  who 
comes,  through  an  ordeal  of  sorrow  and  suffering, 
to  know  the  value  of  her  husband  and  to  love  him. 
It  is  not  important,  though  creditable  as  a  melo 
dramatic  specimen  of  what  Augustin  Daly  used  to 
describe  as  "plays  of  contemporaneous  human  inter 
est."  The  chief  parts  in  it  were  cast  as  follows: 

Mortimer  Rushton. James  O'Neill. 

Richard  Trevellian. Lewis  Morrison. 

Adam  Trueman. ...... A.  D.  Bradley. 

Stephen  Snarley ,.  ., J.  W.  Jennings. 

Ulysses  S.  Danripple,  N.  Y.9  U.  S.  A James  A.  Herne. 

Timothy  Tubbs .David  Belasco. 


128    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Ethel  Trueman Rose  Wood. 

Mabel  St.  Everard ,-.-., Katherine  Corcoran. 

Aunt  Sophie.  ...  ... . ,.  .,. Kate  Benin. 

Belasco  was  at  once  accused  of  having  stolen  his 
play  from  "The  Banker's  Daughter,"  but  on  investi 
gation  by  Palmer's  representative  it  promptly 
appeared  that  the  charge  was  unwarranted.  "The 
chief  real  resemblances,"  said  Belasco,  "are  the  title 
and  the  Duel  Scene.  We  did  call  my  play  'The 
Millionaire's  Daughter'  because  of  the  success  of 
Howard's  piece:  the  Duel  Scene,  however,  I  took 
from  'The  Corsican  Brothers.'  Howard,  probably, 
took  his  from  the  same  source;  nobody  acquainted 
with  the  theatre  could  very  well  help  knowing  that 
scene!" 

The  situation  alluded  to  is  an  old  one  and  it  has 
been  often  used.  The  scene  is  a  glade  in  the  woods. 
The  duellists,  attended  by  their  seconds,  are  con 
fronted,  each  intent  on  homicide.  The  time  is  night 
fall.  The  ground  is  thinly  covered  with  snow.  Each 
of  the  combatants  is  attired  in  a  white  shirt,  open 
at  the  neck,  without  collar;  black  trousers  and  shoes. 
A  faint  twilight  is  diffused  over  the  picture,  and 
the  ominous,  grisly  effect  of  it  is  enhanced  by  low, 
minor  music.  Gleaming  rapiers  are  engaged  and 
the  combat  proceeds  to  its  fatal  close:  few  other 
situations  have  been  made  the  occasion  of  as  much 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     129 

ridicule;  yet,  fashioned  with  care  and  treated  with 
sincerity,  this  one  never  fails  to  thrill  the  specta 
tors, — and  probably  it  never  will. 

Palmer's  production  of  "The  Banker's  Daugh 
ter"  was  announced  for  presentment  at  the  Cali 
fornia  Theatre  on  June  9,  1879;  but  the  success  of 
Belasco's  play,  at  the  Baldwin,  led  to  the  cancella 
tion  by  Palmer  of  his  engagement  in  San  Francisco, 
and  Howard's  play,  in  its  definitive  form,  was  not 
acted  there  until  long  afterward:  it  had,  however, 
previously  been  performed  there  under  the  name  of 
"Lillian's  Lost  Love." 


DETRACTION    OP    BELASCO.— EARLY    CALIFORNIA 
INFLUENCES. 

Those  persons  who  intellectually  and  influentially 
rise  above  the  level  of  mediocrity  almost  invariably 
find  their  attainments  denied,  their  achievements 
belittled,  their  motives  impugned,  and  their  char 
acters  besmirched.  Belasco  has  had  a  liberal  experi 
ence  of  detraction.  One  of  the  most  insistent  dis 
paragements  that  have  followed  him  is  the  charge 
that,  in  the  course  of  his  long  career  as  a  manager 
in  New  York,  he  has  never  produced  any  of  the 
plays  of  Shakespeare,  for  the  reason  that  he  does 
not  possess  either  the  knowledge,  taste,  training,  or 


130    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

ability  requisite  for  their  suitable  presentment.  It 
is  true  that  Belasco,  since  becoming  a  theatrical 
manager  in  New  York,  has  not,  as  yet,  produced 
any  play  of  Shakespeare's  or  any  of  the  standard 
old  legitimate  dramas.  That,  doubtless,  has  been 
a  loss  to  the  public;  but  deferring,  for  the  moment, 
scrutiny  of  reasons  that  have  restrained  him  from 
such  ventures,  it  will  be  pertinent  and  instructive 
here  to  consider  the  question  of  his  competence  to 
make  such  revivals, — because  such  consideration 
necessarily  concerns  itself  with  the  theatrical  envi 
ronment  in  which  he  grew  up  and  in  which  he 
received  his  early  training.  As  bearing  on  such 
an  examination  a  glance  at  the  antecedents  of  the 
San  Francisco  Stage  will  be  helpful.  The  Circus 
preceded  the  Theatre  in  California,  but  only  by 
a  few  weeks.  Two  circus  companies  were  perform 
ing  in  San  Francisco  early  in  1849.  The  first  dra 
matic  performance  given  in  that  city  occurred  in 
the  same  year,  in  a  building  called  Washington 
Hall.  In  the  same  year,  also,  the  first  regular 
theatre  built  in  the  State  was  opened,  in  Sacra 
mento:  it  cost  $80,000  and  it  was  called  the  Eagle. 
James  H.  McCabe, — a  good  friend  to  Belasco  in 
later  years, — was  a  member  of  its  first  company. 
Other  theatres  built  subsequently  in  Sacramento 
were  the  Tehama,  the  Pacific,  the  American,  and 


From  an   old  photograph.  Belasco's   Collection. 

BELASCO  AS  ARM  AND  DUVAL,  IN  "CAMILLE" 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     131 

the  Edwin  Forrest.  The  dramatic  movement,  once 
started,  became  vigorous  and  swift.  In  1851,  in 
San  Francisco,  the  Jenny  Lind  and  the  American 
theatres  were  built,  and  in  1853  a  spacious  and 
handsome  playhouse  was  erected,  called  the  Metro 
politan,  and  also  a  theatre  called  the  Adelphi  was 
opened,  in  which  performances  were  given  in 
French.  Among  the  managers  who  were  active 
and  prominent  in  early  California  days  were  Wes 
ley  Venua,  John  S.  Potter,  Joseph  Howe,  Charles 
Robert  Thorne  (the  Elder),  Daniel  Wilmarth  Wal 
ler,  George  Ryer,  Charles  A.  King,  McKean 
Buchanan,  J.  B.  Booth,  Jr.,  and  Samuel  Colville, — • 
the  latter  subsequently  so  widely  known  and  so 
popular  in  New  York.  Among  actors  of  the  period 
who  were  local  favorites  were  James  Stark,  James 
H.  Warwick,  William  Barry,  "Dan"  Virgil  Gates, 
John  Woodard,  Edward  N.  Thayer,  Frank 
Lawlor,  John  Dunn  (often  jocosely  styled  "Ras 
cal  Jack"),  Elizabeth  Jefferson  (Mrs.  Thoman, 
afterwards  Mrs.  Saunders),  Mrs.  Emanuel  Judah 
(Marietta  Starfield  Torrence),  Mary  Wood 
ard,  and  Marie  Duret, — "the  limpet,"  once  for 
some  time  associated  with  Gustavus  Vaughan 
Brooke  (and  so  called  because  she  "stuck  to  him" 
till  she  had  accumulated  considerable  money  and 
jewelry,  and  then  left  him;  she  seems  to  have  been  a 


132    THE  £IFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

great  annoyance).  Before  Belasco's  birth  (1853) 
the  Drama  had  become  well  established  in  California, 
and  during  his  boyhood  there  and  his  early  pro 
fessional  association  with  it, — that  is,  from  about 
1865  to  1882, — its  condition  was  generally  pros 
perous,  often  brilliant.  Within  that  period  the  San 
Francisco  Stage  was  illumined  by  actors  of  every 
description,  some  of  them  being  of  the  highest  order 
as  well  as  of  the  brightest  renown.  Belasco's  per 
sonal  association  with  the  Theatre,  as  has  been 
shown,  began  in  infancy;  his  earliest  impressions 
were  imbued  with  histrionic  and  dramatic  influence. 
Charles  Kean,  Edwin  Forrest,  and  Julia  Dean  were 
figures  in  his  childish  mind  that  he  never  could  for 
get.  Among  the  notable  actors  whom  he  saw,  with 
many  of  whom  at  one  time  or  another  he  was  actively 
associated,  and  among  whom  are  numbered  some  men 
and  women  whose  histrionic  genius  has  not  been 
surpassed,  were  Catharine  Sinclair,  Matilda  Heron, 
James  E.  Murdoch,  James  William  Wallack,  the 
Younger;  Charles  Wheatleigh,  William  A.  Mes- 
tayer,  John  Wilson,  Mrs.  Saunders,  Kate  Denin, 
John  Collins,  Mrs.  Poole,  John  E.  Owens,  Edwin 
Adams,  Walter  Montgomery,  James  Stark,  Edward 
A.  Sothern,  Frank  Mayo,  Barry  Sullivan,  Edwin 
Booth,  James  O'Neill,  Lewis  Morrison,  Eben 
Plympton,  John  Brougham,  James  A.  Herne, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     133 

Frank  S.  Chanfrau,  James  F.  Cathcart,  William 
H.  Crane,  (Charles)  Barton  Hill,  W.  J.  Florence 
and  Mrs.  Florence,  Barney  Williams  and  Mrs. 
Williams,  Benedict  De  Bar,  George  Rignold,  George 
Fawcett  Rowe,  Charles  F.  Coghlan,  W.  E.  Sheri 
dan,  Mrs.  D.  P.  Bowers,  Adelaide  Neilson,  Wil 
liam  Horace  Lingard  and  Mrs.  Lingard  (Alice 
Dunning),  Lotta  (Charlotte  Crabtree),  Charlotte 
Thompson,  Carlotta  Leclercq,  Neil  Warner,  Daniel 
E.  Bandmann,  Minnie  Palmer,  Jean  Davenport 
Lander,  Mrs.  F.  M.  Bates,  Sallie  A.  Hinckley, 
Dion  Boucicault,  Katharine  Rodgers,  Helena  Mod- 
jeska,  and  Rose  Coghlan.  Those,  and  many  more, 
were  not  mere  names  to  Belasco:  they  were  the 
vital,  active  personification  of  all  that  he  most  loved 
and  desired — the  Stage.  The  environment  of  his 
youth,  allowing  for  all  the  trials  and  hardships 
to  which  incidentally  he  was  subjected,  must, 
obviously,  have  been  conducive  to  the  opening  and 
enlightenment  of  his  mind,  the  direction  of  his 
efforts  into  the  theatrical  field,  the  development 
of  his  latent  powers,  his  education  as  actor, 
dramatist,  and  stage  manager,  and  the  building  of 
his  character.  He  was  a  sensitive,  highly  impres 
sionable  youth,  possessed  of  an  artistic  tempera 
ment,  romantic  disposition,  innate  histrionic  and 
dramatic  faculties,  ardent  ambition  to  excel,  eager 


134    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

interest  in  life,  abundant  capability  of  enjoyment, 
an  almost  abnormal  power  of  observation, — that 
"clutching  eye"  which  has  been  well  ascribed  to 
Dickens, — and  a  kindness  of  heart  that  made  him 
instantly  and  eagerly  sympathetic  with  every  form 
of  human  trial  and  suffering.  Such  a  youth  could 
not  fail  to  respond  to  some,  at  least,  of  the  improv 
ing  influences  to  which  he  was  exposed.  In  the 
ministrations  of  such  men  and  women  as  I  have 
named  he  saw  the  rapid  and  splendid  growth  of  the 
Theatre  in  California,  the  swift  accession  to  the 
number  of  fine  playhouses, — the  building  of 
Maguire's  Opera  House  (afterward  the  Bush 
Street  Theatre),  the  California  Theatre,  Shiels' 
Opera  House,  Maguire's  New  Theatre,  and  Bald 
win's  Academy  of  Music, — and  with  all  of  them, 
and  with  others,  he  became,  at  one  time  or  another 
and  in  one  way  or  another,  connected.  He  was 
given  exceptional  and  invaluable  opportunities  of 
studying  the  respective  styles  and  learning  the 
divergent  methods  of  every  class  of  actor  and  stage 
manager.  He  saw  the  thorough  devotion,  the 
patient  endeavor,  the  astonishing  variety,  and  the 
first  splendid  successes  of  John  McCullough,  who 
went  to  San  Francisco  with  Edwin  Forrest,  in  1866, 
and  there  laid  the  foundation  of  his  renown.  He 
saw  the  intensely  earnest,  highly  intellectual,  inces- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     135 

santly  laborious,  passionately  devoted  and  indomi 
table  Lawrence  Barrett,  who  made  his  first  appear 
ance  in  San  Francisco,  February  13,  1868,  at 
Maguire's  Opera  House,  as  Hamlet,  and  he  saw 
many  of  the  great  plays,  finely  produced  and  nobly 
acted,  which  were  given  at  the  California  Theatre, 
in  the  season  when  it  was  opened,  January  11, 
1869,  under  the  joint  management  of  Barrett  and 
McCullough.  Observance  of  such  a  dramatic  com 
pany  as  those  managers  then  assembled  was  in 
itself  an  education  for  any  young  enthusiast  and 
student  of  the  art  of  acting,  and  it  is  reasonable 
to  believe  that  this  youth  profited  by  it.  The  com 
pany,  certainly,  was  such  a  one  as  could  not  any 
where  be  assembled  now,  because  most  of  the  actors 
of  that  strain  have  passed  away.  Barrett  held  the 
first  position,  dividing  some  of  the  leading  business 
with  McCullough.  William  H.  Sedley- Smith  was 
the  stage  manager.  Other  members  of  the  company 
were  Henry  Edwards,  John  T.  Raymond,  "Willie" 
Edouin,  Claude  Burroughs,  John  Torrence,  J.  E. 
Marble,  John  Wilson,  Edward  J.  Buckley,  W. 
Caldwell,  Frederick  Franks,  W.  F.  Burroughs, 
H.  King,  Henry  Atkinson,  E.  B.  Holmes,  Emilie 
Melville,  Annette  Ince,  Marie  Gordon,  Mrs.  E. 
J.  Buckley,  Mrs.  F.  Franks,  Mrs.  Charles  R. 
Saunders,  and  Mrs.  Judah.  The  plays  presented 


136    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

were  of  all  kinds  and  generally  of  the  highest  order. 
Belasco  was  fortunate  in  possessing  the  special 
favor  of  the  stage  manager,  and  he  was  permitted 
many  chances  of  seeing  those  players.  The  special 
idols  of  his  boyish  admiration  were  John  McCul- 
lough,  Walter  Montgomery,  and  Mrs.  Bowers. 
As  to  Shakespeare — his  mother  was  a  lover  of  the 
dramatist  and  a  careful  student  of  him,  and  she 
early  began  to  instruct  her  boy  in  the  study  of  his 
characters  and  in  the  acting  of  scenes  from  the  plays: 
one  of  the  first  books  he  ever  owned  was  a  large 
single  volume  edition  of  Shakespeare,  which,  to 
gratify  his  childish  longing,  was  sent  to  him,  "from 
New  York,"  because  he  believed  nothing  could  be  as 
fine  as  what  came  from  that  place.  "I  read  it,"  he 
told  me,  "from  the  title-page  to  the  last  word,  with  a 
dictionary  and  a  glossary."  He  saw  many  of  the 
plays  of  Shakespeare  set  upon  the  stage,  by  some 
of  the  most  accomplished,  conscientious,  and  schol 
arly  actors  and  stage  managers  that  have  served 
the  art — men  and  women  the  capabilities  and 
achievements  of  any  one  of  whom,  in  the  stage 
production  of  Shakespeare,  would  shame  the  abili 
ties  of  all  Belasco's  detractors  combined, — and  he 
participated,  not  only  as  actor  but  as  stage  man 
ager,  in  the  representation  of  those  plays.  The 
works  of  Shakespeare  which  were  thus  made 


DAVID    BELASCO    AS    MARK   ANTONY. 
IN    "JULIUS    CAESAR" 

"/  will  not  do  them  wrong;  I  rather  choose 
To  wrong  the  dead,  to  wrong  myself  and  you. 
Than  I  will  wrong  such  honorable  men!" 

-Act  III,  sc.  2 


•holograph   by   Bradley,   San   Francisco. 
)riginal  loaned  by   Mrs.    David   Belasco. 


HE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

re  of  all  kinds  and  generally  of  the  highest  order 
Belasco  was  fortunate  in  possessing  the  special 
favor  of  the  stage  manager,  and  he  was  permitted 
many  chances  of  special 

idols  of  his  bov  tion  were  John  McCul- 

lough,    Walter    Montgomery,    and  Bowers, 

to  Shakespeare  —  his  mother  was  a  lover  of  the 
dramatist  and  a  careful  student  of  him,  and  she 
early  began  to  instruct  her  boy  in  the  study  of  his 
characters  and  ir<  ,ng  of  scenes  from  the  plays: 

one  of  th«  ned  was  a  large 

single   volume   c  which,    to 

gratify  his  childish  longing  to  him,  "from 

he  believed  nothing  could  be  as 
I  read  it,"  he 

--age  to  the  last  word,  with  a 

>v  many  of  the 

the  stage,  by  some 

cientious,  and  schol- 

iagers  that  have  served 

i    the    capabilities    and 

whom,   in  the   stage 

would  shame  the  abili- 

ned,  —  and  he 

'V  as  s  stage  man- 

plays.     The 

wo?  iakespeare     v>  thus    made 


SA    OO6AJ3a    QIVAQ 
"HA83AO    SUIJUU"    Ml 


ob  *on  \V\yi  \" 
,uo\  \iv\»  ^\^^\m  ^no-v*  o^  ,\>»aV>  eM  ^ncw<  oT 

"\A9rn  eN^nianoA  Aoue  ^no-vw  ^\v*  \ 
S  ,03  ,111  toA- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     137 

familiar  to  him,  in  their  technical  aspect,  are  "King 
Richard  III."  (Gibber's  version),  "Hamlet," 
"Othello,"  "Romeo  and  Juliet,"  "Julius  Oesar," 
"Macbeth,"  "King  John,"  "King  Lear,"  "Corio- 
lanus,"  "Cymbeline,"  "Measure  for  Measure,"  "The 
Comedy  of  Errors,"  "Much  Ado  About  Nothing," 
"A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,"  "The  Merchant 
of  Venice,"  "Katharine  and  Petruchio"  (Garrick's 
version),  "Twelfth  Night,"  and  "As  You  Like  It." 
He  played  all  sorts  of  parts  in  Shakespeare,  from 
the  slightest  to  some  of  the  greatest:  in  San  Fran 
cisco  he  would  play  anything, — the  Salanios, 
Guildensterns,  First  Messengers,  Citizens,  etc.,  and 
frequently  go  on  as  a  super, — merely  to  gain  oppor 
tunity  to  be  on  the  stage  with  the  leaders  of  his 
profession,  in  order  that  he  might  observe  them. 
Fired  with  emulous  ambition,  he  would  then  obtain 
employment  in  any  travelling  or  barnstorming  com 
pany  in  which  he  could  play  some  of  the  greater 
parts,  and  in  that  way, — acting,  of  course,  at  first 
in  imitation  of  various  distinguished  players  whose 
performances  he  had  witnessed,  but  also,  more  and 
more  as  his  experience  grew,  along  experimental 
lines  of  his  own  contrivance, — he  played,  among 
other  parts,  Mercutio,  Marc  Antony,  Friar  Law 
rence  and  Hamlet.  He  also  sometimes  acted 
women; — in  Shakespeare,  notably,  the  Nurse,  in 


138     THE  LIFE  OE  DAVID  BELASCO 

"Romeo  and  Juliet,"  and  Queen  Gertrude,  in 
"Hamlet."  In  short,  the  truth,  respecting  Belasco 
and  his  qualification  for  producing  Shakespeare's 
dramas,  is  that  he  is  better  qualified  to  present  them 
than  any  other  stage  manager  in  America.  His 
abstention  from  that  field  has  been  due  to  a  variety 
of  causes,  chief  among  them  being  that,  at  first, 
while  he  was  fighting  his  way  to  a  position  in  which 
he  could  produce  anything,  and  immediately  after 
his  achievement  of  that  independence,  the  field  of 
Shakespearean  acting  was  almost  exclusively  occu 
pied  by  famous,  popular,  and  prosperous  stars,  who 
did  not  need  his  services,  having  their  own,  and 
with  whom  he  must  have  vainly  contended  in  an 
unequal  rivalry;  and,  later,  that  there  was  an  almost 
complete  dearth  of  qualified  Shakespearean  per 
formers.  That  dearth  might  not  be  so  nearly  com 
plete  now  if  Belasco  had  earlier  turned  his  atten 
tion  to  the  production  of  Shakespeare:  on  the  other 
hand,  he  had  to  win  his  place  before  he  could 
fill  it, — and  the  carpers  who  censure  him  for  what 
he  has  not  done  would,  in  most  instances,  have 
been  as  vigorous  in  censure  if  he  had  brought  out 
plays  of  Shakespeare  as  they  have  been  because 
he  has  not:  what  they  actually  seek  for  is  any 
ground  for  fault-finding.  Belasco's  sound  sense 
and  good  judgment  were  well  shown  in  a  recent 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     139 

conversation  with  me,  relative  to  David  Warfield's 
ambition  to  play  Shylock:  "Warfield,"  he  said,  "is 
wild  to  play  Shylock,  and  is  at  me  every  little  while 
to  bring  out  'The  Merchant.'  I'd  like  to  do  .it, 
but  it  isn't  practical  just  now,  and  so  I  tell  him, 
'Wait,  wait,' — though  he  doesn't  want  to  wait!  But 
it  would  be  foolish  at  present:  to-day  'Dave'  War- 
field  is  one  of  the  most  prosperous  of  actors:  he 
can  play  'The  Music  Master,'  and  'The  Auction 
eer,'  and  make  a  fortune — just  as  Jefferson  did 
with  'Rip'  and  'The  Rivals.'  But  what  will  happen 
if  I  bring  him  out  as  Shylock,  at  once,  in  New 
York,  or  close  to  it?  A  lot  of  the  paltry  scribblers 
who  don't  know  anything  about  'The  Merchant' 
will  have  their  knives  into  him  up  to  the  hilt — and 
the  next  morning,  whether  he's  good,  bad,  or  indif 
ferent,  he'll  be  the  best  'roasted'  actor  on  the  stage 
— the  venture  will  be  no  good,  and  when  he  goes 
back  to  'The  Music  Master'  his  standing  will  have 
been  hurt.  Nobody  can  give  a  great  performance 
of  Shylock  the  first  time.  When  we  are  ready,  I'll 
take  a  modest  little  company  out  into  the  back 
woods  somewhere,  so  far  away  from  New  York 
that  nobody  here  knows  there  are  such  places,  and 
let  Warfield  play  Shylock  for  three  months  or  so. 
Then,  when  he's  found  himself  and  can  show  what 
he  can  really  do,  if  it's  no  good  we'll  drop  it,  and 


140    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

if  (as  I  expect)  it  turns  out  great,  I'll  bring  him 
into  New  York  and  give  them  such  a  production 
as  they  haven't  seen  since  Irving  played  the  piece." 
That  is  the  clear,  right,  prescient  insight  of  an 
authentic  theatrical  manager,  who  understands  that 
a  vital  part  of  the  management  of  the  Theatre  con 
sists  in  management  of  the  People. 

BELASCO'S    REPERTORY    AS    AN    ACTOR. 

A  complete  list  of  the  characters  that  Belasco 
assumed,  while  he  remained  an  actor,  is  not  obtain 
able,  but  the  subjoined  partial  list,  which  I  have 
carefully  made  by  consulting  newspaper  advertise 
ments  and  other  sources  of  authentic  information, 
is  sufficiently  suggestive  of  his  ample  experience 
in  the  vocation  of  acting.  The  student  of  his 
career  should  needfully  bear  in  mind,  moreover, 
that  he  has,  first  and  last,  set  on  the  stage  every 
one  of  the  plays  here  named  (and  many  others), 
besides  acting  in  them: 


Photograph    by    Falk.  The   Albert  Davis   Collection. 

BELASCO,   ABOUT   1880 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     141 

PART.  PLAY. 

(A) 

Alfred  Evelyn. "Money." 

Antonio "The  Merchant  of  Venice." 

Apothecary "Romeo  and  Juliet." 

Archibald  Carlyle "East  Lynne." 

Armand  Duval "Camille." 

Avica,  the  Spirit  of  Avarice "A  Storm  of  Thoughts." 

(B) 

Baldzvin "Ireland  and  America." 

Benvolio "Romeo  and  Juliet." 

-Bernardo-. "Hamlet." 

Biondello "Katharine  and  Petruchio." 

Black  Donald "The  Hidden  Hand." 

Bleeding  Sergeant "Macbeth." 

Bloater "Maum   Cre." 

Bob "The  Black  Hand." 

Bob  Brierly "The  Ticket-of-Leave  Man." 

Bob  Rackett "Help." 

Box "Box  and  Cox." 

Buddicombe. . "Our  American  Cousin." 

Butler "Man  and  Wife." 

(C) 

Captain  Blenham "The  Rough  Diamond." 

Captain  Crosstree "Black-Ey'd  Susan." 

Charles  Oakley "The  Jealous  Wife." 

Chdteau-Renaud "The  Corsican  Brothers." 

Claude  Melnotte "The  Lady  of  Lyons." 

Clifford "The  Hunchback." 

Colonel  Dent "The  Governess." 

Conner  O9 Kennedy "Green  Bushes." 

Cool "London  Assurance." 

Cox "Box  and  Cox." 

Craven  Lenoir.  .  .  ."The  Hidden  Hand." 


142    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

PART.  PLAY. 


Dan  ................  ,  .......  "The  Streets  of  New  York." 

Danny  Mann  .................  ......  "The  Colleen  Bawn." 

Darley  ................  ................  "Dark  Deeds." 

Dauphin  ...........................  "King  Louis  XI." 

De  Mauprat  ...............................  "Richelieu." 

DeWtit  ........................  "Under  the  Gas-Light." 

Dickory  ....................  "The  Spectre  Bridegroom." 

Doctor  of  Hospital  ..............  ,.  ."The  Two  Orphans." 

Dolly  Spanker  ....................  "London  Assurance." 

Don  Ccesar  .....  ................  ......  "Donna  Diana." 

Duke  of  Burgundy  .......................  "King  Lear." 

(E) 
Earl  of  Oxford  ....................  "King  Richard  III." 

(F) 
Fagin  ................................  "Oliver  Twist," 

First  Citizen  ..........................  "Julius  Caesar." 

First  Dwarf  .......................  "Rip  Van  Winkle." 

First  Fury  ..................................  "Pluto." 

•First   Grave-Digger  .........................  "Hamlet." 

First   Officer  _____  .  .  ..........  ---------  ........  "Macbeth." 

First  Policeman  .................  "Little  Don  Giovanni." 

Fournechet,  Minister  of  Finance  ......  "A  Life's  Revenge." 

•  Francesco  ................................    "Hamlet." 

Frank  Breezly  ...............................  "Katy." 

Friar  Lawrence  ....................  "Romeo  and  Juliet." 

Furnace,  the  Cook.  ......  "A  New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts." 


Galeas  ..........  ,  .......  ..............  "The  Enchantress." 

Gaspard  _______  .......  .  ..........  "The  Lady  of  Lyons." 

Gaston  .  ..........................  "Camille." 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     143 

PART.  PLAY. 

Genius  of  the  Rmg  ...........  "The  Wonderful  Scamp,  or 

Aladdin  No.  2." 
George  Sheldon  ..................  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

Gilbert  Gates  .................  "The  Dawn  of  Freedom." 

Gringoire  .......................  "The  Ballad  Monger." 

"Guildenstern   .............................   "Hamlet." 

Gyp    ...........................  .  .  ......  "Saratoga." 

(H) 

'Hamlet  ...................  ...............  "Hamlet." 

Harvey  ...............................  "Out   at   Sea." 

Heinrich  Vedder  ....................  "Rip  Van  Winkle." 

Hon.  Bob  Penley  ................  "Fritz  in  a  Madhouse." 

(I) 
Idiot,  the  .................  "The  Idiot  of  the  Mountain." 

(J) 
James  Callin  ........  "Across  the  Continent."    (Prologue.) 

Jasper  Pidgeon  .....................  "Meg's  Diversion." 

Job  Armroyd  ......................  "Lost  in  London." 

John  O'Bibs  .......................  "The  Long  Strike." 

Johnson  .......................  "The  Lancashire  Lass." 

Joseph  Surface  ...............  "The  School  for  Scandal." 

(K) 
King  Louis  the  Eleventh  ......  .  .  ......  "King  Louis  XL" 


^Laertes    .................................    "Hamlet." 

Lawyer  Marks  ...................  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

Lawyer  Tripper  .................................... 

"Solon  Shingle"  ("The  People's  Lawyer.") 
Lieutenant  .....................  "Don  Caesar  de  Bazan." 

Lieutenant  Victor  .................  "The  Lion  of  Nubia." 

Le  Beau.  .  .  ."As  You  Like  It." 


144    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

PART.  PLAY. 

Lorenzo , "The  Wife." 

Louis "One  Hundred  Years  Old." 

(M) 

Maffeo  Orsmi ."Lucretia  Borgia." 

Major  Hershner "Twice  Saved." 

Malcolm "Macbeth." 

Mandevtile. "The  Young  Widow." 

Marc  Antony .."Julius  Caesar." 

Marco "The  Wife." 

Mark "The  Prodigal's  Return." 

Mark  Meddle "London  Assurance." 

Marquis "The  Pearl  of  Savoy." 

Master   Walter "The   Hunchback." 

Mateo,  the  Landlord "The  Beauty  and  the  Brigands." 

Melter  Moss. "The  Ticket-of-Leave  Man." 

Mercutio , "Romeo  and  Juliet." 

Mr.  Ellingham "Hearts  of  Oak." 

Mr.  Honeyton. "A  Happy  Pair." 

Mr.  Trimeo "The  Mysterious  Inn." 

Mr.  Toodle.< "The  Toodles." 

Mrs.  Cornelia , "East  Lynne." 

Mrs.  Willoughby "The  Ticket-of-Leave  Man." 

Modus "The   Hunchback." 

Mons.  Deschapelles "The  Lady  of  Lyons." 

Moses ,. .  ."The  School  for  Scandal." 

Mother  Frochard ., ."The  Two  Orphans." 

(N) 

Nathan "Leah  the  Forsaken." 

Nick    o'    the    Woods    (the    Jibbe- 

nainosay,  The  Avenger,  Reginald 

Ashburn,  Bloody  Nathan,  and  The 

Spirit  of  The  Water) "The  Jibbenainosay." 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     145 

PART.  PLAY. 

Nick  Vedder. . "Rip  Van  Winkle." 

Nurse "Romeo  and  Juliet." 

(O) 
Our  Guest "Our  Mysterious  Boarding  House." 

(*) 

Pablo,  the  Harpist "Across  the  Continent." 

Page .  .  . "Mary    Stuart," 

Paris ."Romeo  and  Juliet." 

Pedro "A  Yankee  in  Cuba." 

Peter    "Deborah." 

Peter  Bowbells "The  Illustrious  Stranger." 

Peter  True. . "The  Statue  Lover." 

Peter  White , "Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peter  White." 

Phil  Bouncer.  . "The  Persecuted  Traveller." 

Philip  Ray _ "Enoch  Arden." 

Pierre "Robert  Macaire." 

Pietre "The  Enchantress."   (Prologue.) 

'Player  Queen "Hamlet." 

•Polonius "Hamlet." 

Polydor   . "Ingomar." 

Prince  Saucilita "The  Gold  Demon." 

Pumpernickel ."The  Child  of  the  Regiment." 

(Q) 

•Queen   Gertrude. .."Hamlet" 

(R) 

Ralph .... .  ."The  Lighthouse   Cliff." 

Raphael  (and  Phidias) "The  Marble  Heart." 

Ratcliff "King  Richard  III." 

Reuben "Schermerhorn's  Boy." 

Richard  Hare "East  Lynne." 

Richmond "King  Richard  III." 

Robert  Landry "The  Dead  Heart." 


146    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

PART.  PLAY. 

Robert  Macaire "Robert  Macaire." 

Rory  O'More ,. "Rory  O'More." 

'  Rosencrantz    , "Hamlet." 

Ruby  Darrell "Hearts  of  Oak." 

Rudolph. . "Leah  the  Forsaken." 

Rudolphe     "Agnes." 

(S) 

Salanio "The  Merchant  of  Venice." 

Sambo "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

Santo "Gaspardo." 

Secretary "Richelieu." 

.Second  Player "Hamlet." 

*Selim "The  Forty  Thieves." 

Signor  Mateo "The  Miser's  Daughter." 

Simon  Lullaby "A  Conjugal  Lesson." 

Simon  Legree "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

Simon,  the  Cobbler "Marie  Antoinette." 

Sir  Francis  Leveson "East  Lynne." 

Slave "Pygmalion  and  Galatea." 

Spada "The  Woman  in  Red." 

Stuttering  Tailor ."Katharine  and  Petruchio." 

Strale "Checkmate." 

Sylvius "As  You  Like  It." 

(T) 

Terry  Dennison "Hearts  of  Oak." 

The  Destroyer "The  Haunted  Man." 

Tim  Bolus "My  Turn  Next." 

Timothy  Tubbs , "The  Millionaire's  Daughter." 

Tony  Lumpkin. "She  Stoops  to  Conquer." 

Topsy "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

Trip "The  School  for  Scandal." 

Tubal j .  ."The  Merchant  of  Venice." 


DAVID    BELASCO    AS    FAGIN,    IN     "OLIVER    TWIST 


•aph  by   Bradley  &   Rulofson,   San   Francisco. 
I  loaned  by  Mrs.   David   Belasco. 


146    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

PART. 

Robert  Macaire "RoWrt  Macaire." 

Rory  O'More ."Kory  O'More." 

9  Rosencrant v  •      "Hamlet." 

Ruby  Darrell.  "Hea  ->afc" 

Rudolph "Leah  the  Forsaken." 

Rudolphe "Agnes." 

(S) 

Salanio. "The  Merchant  of  Venice." 

Sambo "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

Santo "Gaspardo." 

Secretary  "Richelieu." 

.  .  .  "Hamlet," 
"Sel  liieves." 

Mateo i  Daughter." 

Lullaby  >njugal  Lesson." 

degree uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

he  Cobbler,  •  ."M  etc." 

ime.M 

.ralatea." 

an  in  Red;" 

1  Petruehio." 

.  "Checkmate." 

.   "As  You  Like  It." 


,rtso£0ak." 
."The  Haunted  Man." 
^ext." 
•iter." 
iuer." 
Ibin." 

or  Scandal." 
:hant  of  Venice." 


•T8IWT    R3VUO" 


3A    OO8AJ3Q    QIVAQ 


a*3   .noBloIofl   4 
.ooesfafl   bi7J»a   .eiM 


v.d  ric 
boasol 


THE  LIFE  OF,  DAVID  BELASCO     147 

PART.  PLAY. 

(U) 
Uncle  Tom "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

(V) 

Valentine "Faust"  (Abridgment  of). 

Vasquez "The  Wonder." 

(W) 

Walter "The  Gamester." 

Waiter  (Negro) ."Fritz  in  a  Madhouse." 

(Y) 
Young  Marlowe "She  Stoops  to  Conquer." 

Other  plays  in  which  Belasco  has  performed, — as  I  have 
ascertained  from  newspaper  advertisements  or  notices  and 
from  miscellaneous  records,  without,  however,  finding  speci 
fication  of  the  parts  in  them  which  he  acted, — include  "A 
Bull  in  a  China  Shop,"  "Damon  and  Pythias,"  "The  French 
Spy,"  "A  Hard  Struggle,"  "The  Lone  Pine,"  "Mazeppa," 
"Medea,"  "Mimi,"  "Nobody's  Child,"  "Pizarro,"  and  "The 
Red  Pocketbook."  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  made  unrecorded 
and  now  unremembered  appearances  in  many  other  plays 
besides  these. 

To  the  catalogue  previously  given  of  readings  and  recita 
tions  frequently  employed  by  Belasco  should  be  added  "Tell 
Me  Not  in  Mournful  Numbers,"  "The  Maiden's  Prayer," 
"Little  Jim,  the  Collier's  Lad,"  "Scenes  from  'King  Louis 
XI.,'"  "Shamus  O'Brien,"  "The  Little  Hero,"  "No  One 
to  Love  Him,"  "The  Trial  Scene,  from  'The  Merchant  of 
Venice,' "  "Selections  from  'Oliver  Twist' "  (the  scene  on 
London  Bridge,  scene  wherein  Fagin  causes  Sikes  to  murder 
Nancy,  and  Fagin  awaiting  execution),  "The  Country 
Bumpkin's  Courtship,"  "Eliza,"  "The  Dream  of  Eugene 
Aram,"  and  "Jim  Bludso." 


148     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

BELASCO'S    "THE     STORY    OF    MY    LIFE." 

In  making  a  critical  examination  of  Belasco's 
"The  Story  of  My  Life," — a  document  which,  of 
course,  it  has  been  necessary  for  me  to  consult  in 
writing  this  Memoir, — I  have  observed  many  mis- 
statements  of  fact  in  it,  due  to  defective  memory 
or  to  haste  and  heedlessness  in  composition,  and 
also  the  assertion  of  various  erroneous  notions  and 
mistaken  doctrines  as  to  the  art  of  acting,  and  as 
to  the  difference  in  the  practice  of  that  art  between 
the  customs  of  the  present  and  the  past.  Turning 
to  that  "Story"  in  the  expectation  that  it  would 
prove  helpful,  I  found  only  another  specimen  of 
the  irresponsible  writing  which  is  deemed  permis 
sible  relative  to  the  Theatre,  and  viewing  its  for 
midable  array  of  misstatements  I  have  ruefully 
recalled  the  remark  of  Artemus  Ward  that  "it  is 
better  not  to  know  so  many  things  than  to  know 
so  many  things  that  ain't  so."  Some  of  its  errors 
I  have  specified  and  rectified,  in  other  places,  in  the 
course  of  this  narrative.  Others  of  its  errors  and 
some  of  its  errant  notions  and  doctrines  require 
passing  reference  here. 

Belasco  records  that  he  early  observed  and  con 
demned  "the  incongruity  between  the  stage  way 
of  doing  things  and  the  way  of  life  itself," — the 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     149 

implication  being  that,  in  acting,  actual  life  should 
be  literally  copied.  That  is  an  error.  There  always 
is,  and  from  the  nature  of  things  always  will  be,  a 
certain  incongruity  between  actual  life  and  an  artis 
tic  transcript  of  it.  A  literal  copy  of  actual  life 
shown  on  the  stage  does  not  usually  cause  the  effect 
of  actual  life:  it  causes  the  effect  of  prolixity  and 
tediousness.  Belasco  lays  much  stress  on  his  early 
and  sedulous  practice  of  making  himself  acquainted, 
by  observation,  with  all  sorts  of  grewsome  facts, 
assuring  his  readers  that  he  visited  lunatic  asylums 
in  order  to  study  madness;  talked  with  condemned 
murderers  immediately  prior  to  their  execution  and 
later  witnessed  the  hanging  of  them;  observed  the 
effects  of  surgical  operations  performed  in  hospitals ; 
contemplated  deaths  occurring  there  as  the  result 
of  violence  elsewhere;  obtained  from  a  friendly, 
communicative  physician  knowledge  of  the  manner 
of  death  which  ensues  from  the  action  of  several 
sorts  of  poison,  and  was  favored,  in  a  dissecting 
room,  with  a  view  of  a  human  heart  which  had 
just  been  extracted  from  a  corpse, — his  purpose 
in  this  line  of  inquiry  having  been  to  ascertain  the 
multifarious  manners  in  which  persons  suffer  and 
die,  and  thus  to  qualify  himself,  as  actor  and  stage 
manager,  to  imitate  them  himself  or  instruct  others 
in  the  imitation  of  them.  His  notion,  obviously, 


150    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

is  that  the  actor  ought  to  be  acquainted  with  these 
things,  and,  when  depicting  death,  should  correctly 
and  literally  simulate  the  particular  variety  of  the 
throes  of  dissolution  which  is  appropriate  as  a  cli 
max  to  the  mortal  ailment  or  lethal  stroke  that 
destroys  him. 

All  this  is  well  enough  in  its  way,  but  it  is  only 
a  little  part  of  the  knowledge  required  by  the  actor, 
and  a  special  objection  to  Belasco's  way  of  intro 
ducing  it  is  the  implication  that  such  minute  prepa 
ration  was  peculiar  and  original  with  him.  The 
doctrine  of  "realism"  is  often  oppugnant  to  dra 
matic  art,  and  an  extreme  adherence  to  it  has 
been  a  primary  cause  of  whatever  is  defective  in 
Belasco's  dramatic  work.  "Surely,"  he  exclaims, 
"people  do  not  die  as  quietly  as  they  do  upon  the 
stage."  It  all  depends  on  the  "people"  and  the 
circumstances,  whether  on  the  stage  or  off.  Death, 
in  fact,  sometimes  comes  so  gently  that  its  coming 
is  not  perceived.  On  the  other  hand,  "people"  do 
not  always  die  quietly  on  the  stage.  Edwin  For 
rest,  as  the  dying  Hamlet,  made  a  prodigious  pother 
in  his  expiration  and  was  a  long  time  about  it,  and 
he  maintained  that  a  man  of  his  size  and  massive 
physique  could  not  die  from  poison  without  mani 
festation  of  extreme  agony.  I  many  times  saw 
that  muscular  Hamlet  die,  and  the  spectacle,  while 


From  an  old  photograph. 


Author's  Collection. 


HENRY  J.  MONTAGUE 

(1844-1878) 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     151 

it  might  have  been  correct  (since  the  nature  of  the 
poison  which  kills  Hamlet  is  unknown  the  ques 
tion  is  wholly  assumptive),  was  never  affecting. 
I  recollect  the  death  of  Camille.,  when  that  pulmo 
nary  courtesan  was  impersonated  by  Matilda 
Heron:  it  was  protracted,  vulgar,  obnoxious,  merely 
distressful,  not  the  least  pathetic,  whereas  the 
death  of  Camille  when  Modjeska  played  the  part 
or  when  Sarah  Bernhardt  played  it  was  attended 
by  no  spasms,  no  convulsions,  no  gurgitations, 
was  almost  instantaneous,  and  was  inexpressibly 
touching. 

Belasco  is  not  the  only  actor,  by  many,  who  has 
studied  madness  in  lunatic  asylums,  or  observed 
the  phenomena  of  death  in  hospitals,  or  sounded 
the  depths  of  human  depravity  in  slums  and  bagn 
ios,  or  looked  at  human  nature  and  human  life 
through  a  microscope.  The  biographies  of  Gar- 
rick,  Kemble,  Cooke,  Kean,  Macready,  Forrest,  and 
Booth,  for  example,  teem  with  evidence  to  the 
contrary.  It  is  indisputably  necessary  that  the 
authentic  actor  should  know,  but  it  is  equally 
essential  that  when  he  comes  to  practise  his  art  he 
should  possess  the  judgment  to  select  and  the 
skill  to  use  his  selected  knowledge  in  such  a 
way  as  to  accomplish  his  purpose — not  mar  or 
defeat  it. 


152     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Another  of  Belasco's  completely  mistaken  and 
indeed  comically  errant  notions  is  set  forth  in  the 
following  paragraph  from  his  "Story": 

"Coming  to  New  York  as  a  stranger,  I  knew  I  had  a  task 
before  me  to  introduce  the  new  style  of  acting  which  I 
felt  was  destined  to  take  the  place  of  the  melodramatic 
method.  .  .  .  For  a  long  time  I  had  promised  myself  to 
give  the  public  a  new  style  of  acting  and  play  writing,  all 
my  own.  .  .  .  New  York  audiences  had  been  trained  in  a 
school  of  exaggerated  stage  declamation,  accompanied  by  a 
stage  strut,  and  large,  classic,  sweeping  gestures,  so,  when 
/  introduced  the  quiet  acting,  we  were  laughed  to  scorn,  and 
the  papers  criticised  our  *  milk  and  water '  methods.  It 
was  all  new,  and  those  who  saw  went  away  stunned  and 
puzzled.  We  were  considered  extremists  at  the  Madison 
Square  Theatre,  but  we  persisted,  with  the  result  that  our 
method  prevails  to-day."  [The  italics  are  mine. — W.  W.] 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  how  such  emanations 
of  error  could  have  proceeded  from  the  pen  of 
such  an  experienced  actor,  manager,  dramatist,  and 
observer  as  David  Belasco,  and  it  is  even  more 
difficult  to  be  patient  with  them.  New  York  audi 
ences  before  his  time  had  never  been  "trained  in 
a  school  of  exaggeration/'  and  there  was  nothing 
in  the  least  new, — unless,  perhaps,  it  were  Sunday- 
school  tameness, — in  the  style  of  acting  that  was 
exhibited  in  the  Madison  Square  Theatre.  Long 
before  Belasco's  advent  the  New  York  audience  had 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     153 

seen,  enjoyed,  admired,  and  accepted  Edwin  Booth 
as  Hamlet  and  Richelieu,  Lester  Wallack  as 
de  Vigny  and  as  Don  Felix,  Gilbert  as  Old  Dornton, 
Blake  as  Jesse  Rural,  Chippindale  as  Grandfather 
Whitehead,  Henry  Placide  as  Lord  Ogleby,  Coul- 
dock  as  Luke  Fielding,  Jefferson  as  Rip  Van  Win 
kle,  Salvini  as  Conrad  and  Sullivan,  Owens  as  Caleb 
Plummer,  Walcot  as  Touchstone,  Emery  as  Bob 
Tyke,  Davenport  as  St.  Marc,  Elizabeth  Jefferson 
i (Mrs.  Richardson)  as  Pauline,  Agnes  Robertson 
as  Jeanie  Deans,  Mrs.  Hoey  as  Lady  Teazle,  Laura 
Keene  as  Marco  and  as  Peg  Woffington,  Julia  Ben 
nett  (Mrs.  Barrow)  as  Hypolita  and  Cicely  Home 
spun,  Mrs.  Vernon  as  Lady  Franklin,  Mary  Carr 
as  Temperance,  and  Mary  Gannon  as  Prue, — all 
of  whom  (and  many  more  might  be  mentioned) 
were  conspicuously  representative  of  the  most 
refined,  delicate,  "natural,"  "quiet"  style  of  acting 
that  has  been  known  anywhere.  That  the  New 
York  audience  had  seen  "barnstormers"  and  "soap- 
chewers"  is  true — but  the  educated,  intelligent  part 
of  it  had  laughed  at  them  before  Belasco's  time 
just  as  heartily  as  it  has  since.  I  recollect  evenings 
of  frolic,  many  years  ago,  when  I  repaired,  with 
gay  comrades,  to  the  old  Bowery  Theatre,  with  no 
other  intent  than  to  be  merry  over  the  proceedings 
of  posers  and  spouters,  of  the  Crummies  and  Bing- 


154     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

ley  variety,  who  were  sometimes  to  be  found  there. 
That  tribe  has  always  existed.     Cicero  derided  it,  in 
old   Rome.      In    Shakespeare's    "Hamlet,"    written 
more  than  three  hundred  years  ago,  the  Prince  con 
demns  the  "robustious,  periwig-pated  fellow,"  who 
tears  "a  passion  to  tatters,  to  very  rags,  to  split  the 
ears  of  the  groundlings,"  and  utters  his  well-known, 
wise  counsel  to  actors   that  they   should   "acquire 
and  beget  a  temperance"  that  may  give  "smooth 
ness"   to  their  expression  of   even  the  most  tem 
pestuous  passion.     The  movement  toward  artistic 
acting    has    always,    apparently,    been    going    on. 
Every  student  of  theatrical  history  has  read  about 
the    elocutionary    improvement    effected    by    David 
Garrick,  in  1741.    It  is  a  matter  of  common  knowl 
edge  that  Macready  was  famous  for  the  great  excel 
lence  of  his  "quiet  acting,"  his  wonderful  use  of 
facial    expression,    while    never    speaking    a    word. 
Edmund  Kean,  it  has  been  authentically  recorded, 
moved  his  audience  to  tears,  merely  by  his  aspect, 
while,  as  the  Stranger,  he  sat  gazing  into  vacancy, 
listening  to  the  song, — sung  for  him,  when  he  acted 
in  this  country,  by  Jefferson's  mother: 

"I  have  a  silent  sorrow  here, 
A  grief  I'll  ne'er  impart, 
It  breathes  no  sigh,  it  sheds  no  tear, 
But  it  consumes  my  heart." 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     155 

I  have  seen  many  an  audience  in  tears  when  the 
elder  Hackett  acted  Monsieur  Mallet  and  when 
Jefferson,  as  poor  old  Rip,  murmured  the  forlorn 
question,  "Are  we  so  soon  forgot  when  we  are 
gone?"  No  modern  manager  has  invented  "nat 
ural," — by  which  I  mean  artistic, — acting.  Belasco 
did  not  invent  it,  nor  did  he  introduce  it  at  the 
Madison  Square  Theatre.  He  was  affected  by  what 
he  saw  around  him  in  acting,  precisely  as  he  was 
affected  by  what  he  saw  around  him  in  play  writing: 
like  other  workers  in  the  Theatre,  he  sought  to  better 
his  instruction,  and  he  has  contributed  to  the  devel 
opment  of  changes  (not  all  of  them  beneficial) 
in  the  Theatre.  At  the  Madison  Square,  both  as 
stage  manager  and  dramatist,  he  dissipated  the 
insipidity  with  which  a  deference  to  clerical  man 
agement  was  blighting  the  prospects  of  a  capital 
company  at  that  house,  so  that  from  the  moment 
he  joined  it  its  fortunes  began  to  improve. 

THE    EVIL    OF    INCOMPETENT    CRITICISM. 

It  is  one  of  the  hardships  under  which  actors 
are  compelled  to  pursue  their  vocation  that  the 
Theatre  and  its  votaries  are  continually  subject 
to  the  idle  comment,  indiscriminate  praise,  and 
capricious  censure  of  many  incompetent  writers  in 


156    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

the  press.  A  few  capable,  well-equipped,  earnest, 
and  thoughtful  critics  unquestionably  there  are,  in 
various  parts  of  the  Republic,  but  every  little  pub 
lication  in  the  country  parades  its  dramatic  "critic," 
and  most  of  those  scribblers  show  themselves  igno 
rant  alike  of  dramatic  literature,  dramatic  art,  the 
history  of  the  Stage,  human  nature,  and  human  life. 
That  statement  is  proved  every  day  of  the  year, 
and  it  is  folly  to  ascribe  it  to  the  discontent  of  age 
or  to  lack  of  sympathy  with  contemporary  life. 
Any  intelligent,  educated  person  can  put  it  to  the 
test  as  often  as  desired.  The  newspapers,  as  a  rule, 
do  not  wish  dramatic  criticism:  theatrical  managers, 
almost  without  exception,  resent  it  and  oppose  it: 
the  newspapers  receive  paid  advertisements  and  the 
theatrical  advertisers  assume  to  be  entitled  to  for 
bearance  and  to  puffery  in  the  "critical"  columns. 
This  is  not  true  of  all  newspapers,  but  it  is  gener 
ally  true,  and  the  writers,  whether  competent  or 
not,  can  bear  testimony  to  its  truth.  I  know  of 
nothing  more  dreary  than  the  pages  of  drivel  about 
the  drama  which  periodically  make  their  appear 
ance  in  many  newspapers  and  magazines.  A  favo 
rite  topic  of  those  commentators  is  the  immense 
superiority  of  the  plays  and  the  acting  of  To-day 
over  the  plays  and  the  acting  that  pleased  our 
forefathers.  There  was,  it  appears,  nothing  good 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     157 

in  the  Past:  there  is  nothing  but  good  in  the  Pres 
ent.  The  old  actors  were  artificial  "pumps,"  stagey, 
declamatory,  "spouters."  Shakespeare  is  archaic. 
Old  Comedy  is  a  bore.  The  plays  of  Moliere  and 
Sheridan  creak  on  their  hinges.  The  plays  of 
twenty,  fifteen,  ten  years  ago  have  "aged"!  "Prog 
ress"  has  become  of  such  celerity  that  the  dramas 
of  yesterday  are  "out  of  date" — before  the  second 
season  begins!  The  principles  of  art  have  altered, 
and  they  alter  afresh  with  the  startling  discoveries  of 
each  new  batch  of  collegiate  criticasters.  Human 
nature  has  changed.  The  forces  of  the  universe 
are  different.  The  sun  rises  in  the  west  and  water 
runs  uphill.  Acting  now  is  smooth,  flexible,  nat 
ural,  fluent.  Behold,  we  have  made  a  new  theatrical 
Heaven  and  Earth  wherein  dwelleth  a  NEW  STYLE! 
It  is  lamentable  that  these  ignorant,  frivolous  bab 
blers  of  folly  should  be  able  to  cite  even  one  word 
from  such  an  authority  as  David  Belasco  in  sup 
port  of  their  ridiculous  pretensions:  it  is  the  more 
deplorable  since,  if  he  were  brought  to  a  serious 
consideration  of  his  heedless  assertions,  he  would 
certainly  recant  them.  I  am  not  able  to  believe, 
for  example,  that  he  would  stigmatize  Edwin  Booth 
as  a  strutting  exponent  of  exaggerated  declama 
tion, — an  actor  who  could  speak  blank  verse  as  if 
it  were  the  language  of  nature,  and  always  did  so: 


158     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

an  actor  and  manager,  moreover,  who  did  more  than 
any  other  one  person  of  the  Theatre  to  make  pos 
sible  the  career  of  many  who  followed  him,  includ 
ing  David  Belasco.  Nor  can  I  believe  that  he 
would  call  Florence  a  spouter, — Florence,  who  was 
one  of  the  most  adroit  and  delicate  of  artists, — or 
deride  such  performances  as  John  Nickinson's 
Haversack,  Blake's  Geoffrey  Dale,  and  Burton's 
Cap'n  Cuttle  as  specimens  of  flannel-mouthed  melo 
dramatic  rant.  Yet  such  were  the  actors  to  whose 
style  the  New  York  audience  had  been  accustomed 
long  before  the  time  when  Belasco  declares  that 
he  brought  an  entirely  new  and  improved  style  of 
acting  to  the  Madison  Square  Theatre  and  thus, — 
by  implication  at  least, — asserts  that  he  reformed 
the  Stage. 

Augustin  Daly,  who  began  theatrical  management 
in  New  York,  in  1869,  when  Belasco  was  a  school 
boy  of  sixteen,  in  San  Francisco,  constrained  the 
actors  whom  he  employed  to  respect  and  emulate 
the  best  traditions  of  acting,  and,  while  he  never 
sought  to  establish  a  school  of  acting,  insisted  on 
Hamlet's  right  doctrine  of  "temperance"  and 
"smoothness";  and  when  he  carried  his  dramatic 
company  to  San  Francisco,  in  1875,  at  which  time 
Belasco  saw  and  studied  performances  that  were 
there  given  by  it,  "The  Evening  Bulletin,"  of  that 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     159 

city,  displeased  by  the  delicate,  refined,  "quiet" 
acting  which  had  charmed  New  York,  thus  tes 
tified: 

"The  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre  Company  have  a  style  of  their 
own.  It  is  emasculated  of  vigor,  force  in  action,  and  any 
thing  like  declamation  in  reading.  It  is  quiet,  elegant, 
languid;  making  its  points  with  a  French  shrug  of  the 
shoulders,  little  graceful  gestures,  and  rapid  play  of  feat 
ures.  The  voice  is  soft,  the  tone  low,  and  the  manner  at 
once  subdued  and  expressive.  It  pleases  a  certain  set  of 
fashionables,  but  to  the  general  public  it  is  acting  with  the 
art  of  acting  left  out." 


THE    NATURE    OF    BELASCO'S    TALENTS    AND    SERVICES. 

There  has  always  been  a  desire  and  endeavor  to 
act  truly,  and,  side  by  side  with  that  desire  and 
endeavor,  there  has  always  been  abuse  of  the  art 
by  incompetents  and  vulgarians.  If  you  were  to 
attend  rehearsals  at  some  of  our  theatres  now,  you 
would  behold  coarse  and  blatant  bullies,  of  the 
Mr.  Dolphin  order,  blaring  at  the  actors  "More 
ginger!"  It  is  the  way  of  that  tribe  and  the  custom 
in  those  temples  of  intellect.  But  while  Belasco 
has  not  invented  any  new  style  of  acting  he  has 
done  great  service  to  the  Stage,  and  his  name  is 
written  imperishably  on  the  scroll  of  theatrical 
achievement  in  America.  As  an  actor  his  experi- 


160     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

ence  has  been  ample  and  widely  diversified.  He 
possesses  a  complete  mastery  of  the  technicalities 
of  histrionic  art.  As  a  stage  manager  he  is  com 
petent  in  every  particular  and  has  no  equal  in  this 
country  to-day.  His  judgment,  taste,  and  expert 
skill  in  creating  appropriate  environment,  back 
ground,  and  atmosphere  for  a  play  and  the  actors 
in  it  are  marvellous.  His  attention  to  detail  is 
scrupulous;  and  his  decision  is  prompt  and  usually 
unerring.  No  theatrical  director  within  my  obser 
vation, — which  has  been  vigilant  and  has  extended 
over  many  years, — has  surpassed  him  in  the  exer 
cise  of  that  genius  which  consists  in  the  resolute, 
tireless  capability  of  taking  infinite  pains.  Many 
of  the  performances  which  have  been  given  under 
his  direction  are  worthy  to  be  remembered  as  exam 
ples  of  almost  perfect  histrionic  art.  As  a  drama 
tist  he  is  essentially  the  product  of  that  old  style 
of  writing  which  produced  " Venice  Preserved," 
"Fazio,"  "The  Apostate,"  "The  Clandestine  Mar 
riage,"  "The  Jealous  Wife,"  etc.,— a  style  with 
which  his  mind  was  early  and  completely  satu 
rated, — and  of  the  example  and  influence  of  Dion 
Boucicault,  whose  expertness  in  construction,  felicity 
in  fashioning  crisp  dialogue,  and  exceptional  skill 
in  creating  vivid  dramatic  effect  he  has  always 
much  and  rightly  admired.  He  has  written  many 


Photograph  by   Sarony.  Author's   Collection. 

AUGUSTIN  DALY,  ABOUT  1870-'75 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     161 

plays  and  he  has  co-labored  with  other  authors  in 
the  writing  of  many  more.  He  has  exerted  a  pow 
erful  influence  upon  the  Stage  in  every  part  of 
our  country.  He  has  battled  successfully  against 
the  iniquitous  Theatrical  Trust  and  in  a  great  meas 
ure  contributed  to  the  curtailment  of  its  oppressive 
power.  He  has  developed  and  made  efficient  sev 
eral  stars  who,  without  his  assistance,  would  never 
have  gained  the  prominence  which,  with  it,  they  have 
attained.  He  has  established  and  now  (1917) 
maintains  one  of  the  finest  theatres  in  the  world. 
To  have  done  all  this, — to  have  raised  himself  from 
indigence  and  obscurity  to  honorable  distinction 
and  actual  leadership  in  an  intellectual  calling,  to 
have  made  his  way  by  force  of  character,  native 
talent,  indomitable  resolution,  patient,  continuous, 
indefatigable  labor;  to  have  borne,  with  unshaken 
fortitude,  hardships,  trials,  disappointment,  enmity, 
and  calumny,  and  to  have  risen  above  all  the  vicis 
situdes  of  fortune, — this  surely  is  to  have  shown  the 
steadfast  man  of  the  old  Roman  poet  and  to  have 
merited  the  reward  of  prosperity  and  the  laurel 
of  fame.  His  eminence  in  his  vocation,  accordingly, 
and  the  obligation  to  him  of  the  Theatre  and  the 
Public  do  not  require  the  claim  of  imaginary 
achievements  to  enhance  his  reputation.  There  never 
was  any  need  that  he  should  have  claimed  that  he 


162     THE  LIFE  OF,  DAVID  BELASCO 

had  introduced  a  new  style  of  acting.  I  do  not 
doubt,  judging  from  what  I  have  read  of  his  many 
impersonations,  that  Betterton,  who  performed  on 
the  London  stage  more  than  two  hundred  years  ago, 
could  and  did  exemplify  "quiet  acting"  as  thor 
oughly  as  John  Mason  does,  performing  on  the  New 
York  stage  to-day.  Changes,  modifications  of  all 
kinds,  have  occurred,  many  varieties  of  personality 
have  been  exhibited,  in  many  varieties  of  speech  and 
bearing,  but  the  radical,  structural  change  in  method 
that  has  been  effected,  the  change  from  extrava 
gance  and  elaborate  artifice  to  refined  simplicity, 
has  not  been  wrought  by  any  one  person  but  by 
many  persons,  actuated  by  the  same  influences  that 
have  changed  the  physical  investiture  of  the  Theatre, 
and  by  the  advance  of  intelligence,  sense,  and  taste. 
It  is  peculiarly  deplorable  that  the  authority  of 
Belasco  should  even  seem  to  sustain  such  carping 
criticasters  as  I  have  indicated  (writers  who,  igno 
rant  of  theatrical  history  and,  apparently,  of  much 
else,  seek  to  exalt  the  Present  by  impudent  dis 
paragement  of  the  Past),  because  many  of  that  tribe 
have,  recently,  taken  to  publishing  idle  and  stupid 
detraction  of  Belasco  himself,  on  the  ground  that 
he  is  "unprogressive"  and  belongs  to  "the  old  fash 
ion."  He  has  done  more  by  a  single  production 
such  as  "The  Darling  of  the  Gods"  than  the  whole 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    163 

swarm  of  his  detractors  has  ever  done,  or  ever  will 
do,  in  a  lifetime  of  scribbling,  and  his  name  will 
live  as  a  beacon  of  achievement,  in  life  as  well  as 
in  the  Theatre,  generations  after  they  are  all  van 
ished  and  forgotten,  like  wind-blown  dust. 


CONCERNING  MATTERS  OF  FACT. 

Genest,  in  his  exceedingly  valuable  "Account" 
of  the  Theatre  in  Great  Britain, — a  work  to  which 
every  later  writer  on  the  subject  finds  himself  more 
or  less  indebted  and  which  ought  to  be  reprinted, — 
sagely  remarks  that  "In  giving  an  account  of  the 
Stage  a  good  story  may  sometimes  be  admitted  on 
slender  authority,  but  where  mere  matters  of  fact 
are  concerned  the  history  of  the  Stage  ought  to 
be  written  with  the  same  accuracy  as  the  history 
of  England."  The  attainment  of  accuracy,  how 
ever,  exacts  scrupulous  attention,  ceaseless  vigi 
lance,  patient  inquiry,  and  hard  work,  and  only 
a  few  writers  about  the  Stage  have  ever  taken  the 
trouble  to  be  thorough  and  exact.  I  had  expected 
that  Belasco's  "Story"  could  be  depended  upon  in 
every  particular  and  that  it  would  prove  of  invalu 
able  aid  in  writing  this  Memoir.  I  do  not  doubt 
that  he  designed  it  to  be  literally  true,  but,  as 
a  conscientious  biographer,  I  am  compelled  to 


164     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

mention  its  errors  of  fact,  and  I  deem  it  my 
duty  to  specify  and  correct  some  of  them,  as  an 
act  of  justice  alike  to  him  and  to  his,  and  my, 
readers. 

Belasco,  as  I  have  ascertained  and  stated,  was 
born  not  in  1858  or  1859,  as  various  accounts  of 
him  have  declared,  but  in  1853.  He  has  himself 
affirmed  that  in  1865,  in  San  Francisco,  he  walked 
in  a  funeral  procession  expressive  of  the  public 
grief  for  the  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  at  that 
time  wrote  a  play,  on  the  tragic  and  pathetic  fate 
of  that  illustrious  American,  expositive  of  his  views 
of  the  motives  of  Lincoln's  murderer.  If  we  were 
to  accredit  the  dates  which  are  given  as  authentic 
in  various  published  sketches  of  his  life, — which 
appear  to  have  been  formally  sanctioned, — we 
should  find  him  to  have  reached  only  to  the  age 
of  five  years  and  nine  months  when  he  walked  in 
that  procession  and  wrote  that  play;  we  should  find 
him, — according  to  such  wild  statements, — when 
he  acted,  in  Victoria,  with  Julia  Dean  and  Charles 
Kean,  performing  with  those  distinguished  players 
about  three  years  after  both  of  them  had  died;  we 
should  admire  him  when,  before  the  age  of  eleven, 
he  was  critically  estimating  the  histrionic  style  of 
Walter  Montgomery;  and  when,  between  the  ages 
of  thirteen  and  fourteen,  he  was  giving  counsel, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     165 

which  Raymond  the  comedian  had  solicited,  relative 
to  the  play  of  "The  Gilded  Age,"  and  also  as  acting 
as  amanuensis  to  Dion  Boucicault.  He  states  that 
Lawrence  Barrett  loved  John  McCullough  "like  his 
son."  Barrett,  horn  in  1838,  was  six  years  younger 
than  McCullough,  born  in  1832,  and  he  could  not 
have  viewed  that  stalwart  comrade  with  anything 
like  a  paternal — or  a  filial — feeling.  In  fact,  though 
they  dwelt  in  amicable  association  as  managers  and 
actors  (it  would  have  been  hard  for  anybody  to 
dwell  in  association  with  McCullough  in  any  other 
way),  there  was  no  special  affection  between  them, 
as  I  personally  know.  Belasco's  statement  that 
McCullough  was  at  one  time  Forrest's  dresser  is 
incorrect.  He  admired  Forrest  and  he  imitated 
him  (until  the  veteran  gruffly  told  him  to  leave  off 
"making  a  damned  fool"  of  himself  by  so  doing), 
but  he  never  was  Forrest's  servant  or  lackey. 
Belasco  says  that  Barrett's  first  appearance  as  Cas- 
sius,  in  "Julius  Caesar,"  was  made  in  1870,  in  San 
Francisco,  and  that  he  "hated"  the  part  and  wished 
to  play  Antony,  but  could  not  because  it  was  Walter 
Montgomery's  part, — the  fact  being  that  he  played 
Cassius  for  the  first  time  about  1855,  when  he  was 
about  seventeen  years  old,  at  the  Metropolitan  The 
atre,  Detroit;  that  he  loved  the  part;  that  his  affin 
ity  with  it  was  very  strong,  and  that  he  esteemed 


166    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

it,  as  what  indeed  it  is,  the  moving  impulse  of  the 
whole  tragedy.  Barrett  first  played  Cassius  in  San 
Francisco  March  9,  1869,  at  the  California  Thea 
tre,  Edwards  acting  Antony;  that  is,  about  one 
year  before  Montgomery  visited  San  Francisco. 
I  have  talked  with  Barrett  for  hours  and  hours 
about  acting,  and  especially  about  the  play  of 
"Julius  Caesar,"  but  I  never  heard  him  speak  with 
enthusiasm  about  the  part  of  Marc  Antony,  or 
express  any  desire  to  act  that  part,  though  he  thor 
oughly  understood  it  and  knew  its  value.  Another 
of  Belasco's  mistaken  assertions  is  the  assurance 
that  Walter  Montgomery, — who  acted  Antony  with 
Barrett  as  Cassius  and  McCullough  as  Brutus, — 
was  enamoured  of  an  actress  named  Rose  Massey; 
that  he  (Belasco)  witnessed  their  first  encounter, 
on  the  stage  of  the  California  Theatre,  when  Mont 
gomery  was  smitten  speechless  at  the  sight  of  the 
young  woman;  that  he  soon  married  her;  and  that, 
after  a  quarrel  with  her,  he  committed  suicide, 
aboard  a  ship  bound  for  England.  Inquiry  would 
have  corrected  his  memory.  Poor  Montgomery  (a 
genial  fellow  and  a  fine  actor)  was  easily  and  often 
enamoured:  as  was  said  of  the  poet  Heine,  "His 
heart  was  a  good  deal  broken  in  the  course  of  his 
life."  Rose  Massey  was  an  ordinarily  pretty  woman, 
one  of  the  many  devotees  of  the  Blonde  Troupe 


LAWRENCE    BARRETT    AS    CAIUS    CASSIUS. 
IN    "JULIUS    CAESAR" 

"If  we  do  meet  again,  we'll  smile  indeed; 
If  not,  'tis  true  this  parting  was  well  made!" 

-Act  V.   sc.  1 


L  steel  engraving. 
'»  Collection. 


166    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

it,  as  what  indeed  it  is,  the  moving  impulse  of  the 
le  tragedy.    Barrett  first  played  Cassia  in  San 
Francisco   March  9,  1860,  at  the  California  Thea 
tre,   Edwards   acting   A  that  is,   about   one 

year    before   Montgomery    visited    San    Francisco. 
I  have   talked  with  Barrett   for  md  hours 

about  and    especially    about   the    play   of 

"Ji  but  I  never  heard  him  speak  with 

uart   of   Marc   Antony,   or 

>art,  though  he  thor- 

value.    Another 

assurance 

vith 

••is  and  «gh  as  Brutus,  — 

wa  >amed  Rose  Massey; 

encounter, 

,itre,  when  Mont- 

at  the  sight  of  the 

Carried  her;  and  that, 

committed    suicide, 

ind.     Inquiry  would 

Poor  Montgomery  (a 

was  easily  and  often 

as  said  of  the  poet  Heine,  "His 

in  the  course  of  his 

-as  an  ordinarily  pretty  woman, 


aui-  ;Ta**A8  spirffflwtek   Troupe 

"  euuuu  •  m 


r  ,oa   .V  JoA 


^IIoO  •' 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     167 

manager,  Alexander  Henderson,  and  I  remember 
her  as  a  female  at  whom  it  was  easily  possible  to 
gaze  without  blinking.  Montgomery  never  mar 
ried  her.  Walter  Montgomery  (Richard  Tomlin- 
son,  1827-1871:  Montgomery  was  his  mother's 
name)  married  an  actress  called  Winnetta  Monta 
gue.  Her  real  name  was  Laleah  Burpre  Bigelow. 
She  had  been  the  wife  of  a  Boston  gentleman, 
Arnold  W.  Taylor.  Montgomery  met  her  on  the 
stage  at  the  Boston  Theatre.  She  was  attracted 
by  him,  followed  him  to  England,  and  cap 
tured  him.  Their  marriage  occurred  on  August 
30,  1871,  and  on  September  2,  in  a  lodging  in 
Stafford  Street,  Bond  Street,  London,  he  com 
mitted  suicide,  by  shooting,  and  he  was  buried  in 
Brompton  Cemetery.  Winnetta  Montague  returned 
to  America,  resumed  acting,  allied  herself  with  an 
Irish  comedian  named  James  M.  Ward,  died  in 
New  York,  in  abject  poverty,  in  1877,  and  was 
buried  by  charitable  members  of  the  dramatic  pro 
fession. 

The  excellent  and  famous  personation  of  Fagin 
which  was  shown  throughout  our  country  by  J.  W. 
Wallack,  the  Younger,  is  ascribed  by  Belasco  to 
"Lester's  father,"  J.  W.  Wallack,  the  Elder,  who 
was  "Jim"  Wallack's  uncle,  and  by  whom  the  part 
was  never  played.  The  movable  stage  introduced 


168     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

at  the  Madison  Square  Theatre  in  1879  is  desig 
nated  "an  innovation"  invented  by  Steele  Mackaye, 
whereas,  in  fact,  it  was  a  variant  of  the  movable 
stage  scheme  introduced  at  Booth's  Theatre,  in 
1869,  by  Edwin  Booth. 

"Looking  over  theatrical  history,"  Belasco  exclaims, 
"has  it  ever  occurred  to  you  how  many  players  have  based 
their  fame  on  just  one  role? — Salvini  as  Othello,  Irving  as 
Mathias,  in  "The  Bells";  Booth  as  Hamlet,  Raymond  as 
Mulberry  Sellers,  Sothern  as  Dundreary,  Emmet  as  Fritz, 
Jefferson  as  Rip,  Mayo  as  Davy  Crockett,  Chanfrau  as 
Kit?  .  .  .  Most  of  these  men  struggled  a  lifetime  and  gained 
recognition  as  creditable  actors.  Then,  suddenly,  they 
struck  a  particular  part,  a  sort  of  entertainment,  a  com 
bination  of  all  the  excellent  things  they  had  done  through 
out  their  lives  but  never  before  had  concentrated  on  one 
role.  And  there  you  are !  Any  other  actor  might  have 
become  just  as  famous  if  Fate  had  thrown  the  part  first 
in  his  way.  I  have  seen  three  Rips, — that  of  Jefferson,  that 
of  Robert  McWade,  and  finally  that  of  James  A.  Herne. 
This  last  was  a  wonderful  characterization,  with  all  the 
softness  and  pathos  of  the  part.  I  was  a  Dwarf,  to  Herne's 
Rip,  in  the  Maguire's  Opera  House  days.  But  Fate  chose 
to  thrust  forward  Jefferson  as  the  only  Rip  that  ever  was 
or  ever  could  be.  /  happen  to  know  better.  Jefferson 
was  never  the  Dutchman;  he  was  the  Yankee  personating 
the  Dutchman.  But  James  A.  Herne's  Rip  was  the  real 
thing.  .  .  .  These  actors  of  one  part  are  like  the  favored 
children  of  heaven;  they  are  handed  something  on  a  golden 
platter,  already  created  by  the  author.  It  is  to  the  author, 
the  director,  the  stage  manager,  that  the  true  credit  of  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     169 

creation  belongs.  Jefferson  did  not  really  create  Rip; 
through  a  certain  undeniable  art  of  his  he  simply  put  into 
visible  form  what  Washington  Irving  in  the  story  suggested 
and  Dion  Boucicault  so  cleverly  fitted  to  his  personality 
for  the  stage;  he  utilized  every  bit  of  the  descriptive  busi 
ness  of  the  tale" 

Seldom  has  so  much  error  and  injustice  been 
packed  into  so  small  a  space!  It  is  true  that,  in 
many  instances,  individual  actors  have  abundantly 
prospered  by  the  long-continued  repetition  of  a 
single  performance:  this  fact,  I  remember,  was 
impatiently  noticed  many  years  ago  by  Don  Piatt, 
who  testily  expressed  in  a  Washington  newspaper 
an  ardent  wish  that  old  Rip  Van  Winkle  and  old 
Fanchon  would  get  married  and  both  retire.  It 
is  not  because  the  individual  actor  finds  "a  par 
ticular  part,  a  sort  of  entertainment,  a  combination 
of  all  the  excellent  things"  he  has  done  throughout 
his  life,  that  he  often  becomes  most  famous  in  one 
part;  it  is  because,  in  every  art,  the  artist's  range 
of  supreme  merit  is,  comparatively,  narrow;  no 
matter  how  well  he  can  do  fifty  things,  he  can,  as 
a  rule,  do  one  thing  best  of  all, — that  thing  being 
always  one  for  which,  whether  he  happens  to  like 
it  or  not,  he  possesses  a  peculiar  capacity,  one  with 
which  he  possesses  a  close  artistic  and  physical 
affinity,  so  that,  in  the  doing  of  it,  he  can  make 


170     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

an  ampler  and  more  effective  display  of  his  talents 
than  he  can  make  in  any  other  way;  and  also 
because  the  public  (with  a  generally  sound  instinc 
tive  preference  for  seeing  an  actor  in  the  thing 
which  he  can  do  best)  insists  on  seeing  him  in  it 
and  will  not  go  in  large  numbers  to  see  him  in 
anything  else. 

How  much  judgment  is  there  in  a  statement 
which  classifies  performances  of  Othello,  Mathias, 
and  Hamlet  among  "entertainments"?  Salvini  had 
played  nothing  like  Othello,  Irving  nothing  like 
Mathias,  Booth  nothing  like  Hamlet  before,  respec 
tively,  they  played  those  parts.  (Such  perform 
ances  as  Sellers,  Fritz,  Crockett,  and  Kit,  well 
enough  in  their  way,  do  not  deserve  thoughtful 
consideration  as  the  basis  of  histrionic  "fame.") 
"Any  other  actor  might  have  become  just  as  famous 
if  Fate  had  thrown  the  part  first  in  his  way!"  That 
is,  according  to  this  careless  commentator,  although 
a  "one-part  actor"  achieves  his  greatest  success  in 
a  part  which  happens  to  combine  "all  the  excellent 
things,"  the  peculiar,  individual  merits,  of  that  spe 
cial  actor,  nevertheless  any  other  actor  could  have 
achieved  the  same  success  if  he  had  been  fortunate 
enough  to  receive  the  golden  opportunity  first. 
Charles  Harcourt  played  Mathias,  under  the  name 
of  Paul  Zegers,  at  the  Alfred  Theatre  (the  old 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     171 

Marylebone),  London,  in  a  version  of  "The  Polish 
Jew"   by   Frank  Burnand,   several  months   before 
Irving  ever  played  it — and  Harcourt  utterly  failed 
in  it.     Othello  and   Hamlet  had   been   played   by 
scores  of  contemporary  actors  before   Salvini  and 
Booth,    respectively,    played   those    parts, — yet   the 
effect  produced  by  those  actors  in  those  parts  was 
not  the   less   unique   and   extraordinary.      Irving's 
fame  as  an  actor,   moreover,  rested  and  rests    at 
least  as  much  on  his  Hamlet,  Shylock,  King  Louis, 
Mephistopheles,  and  Benedick  as  on  his  Mathias. 
Hamlet  certainly  was  Booth's  most  typical  perform 
ance,  but  also  certainly  he  was  more  popular  as 
Richelieu  than  as  Hamlet,  and  his  fame  rests  on  that 
part  and  on  his  Brutus ,  Shylock,  King  Richard  the 
Third,  and  lago  as  much  as  on  his  Hamlet.   Salvini's 
fame  rests  as  much  on  his  Corado,  Niger,  King  Saul, 
and  Orosmane  as  on  his  Othello — and  in  all  of  those 
parts  he  was  finer  than  he  was  in  Othello.     Salvini, 
Irving,  and  Booth  were  not  "one-part  actors,"  nor 
does  their  fame  rest  on  any  one  performance,  nor 
should  the  credit  for  their  achievement  be  given  to 
any  author,  director,  or  stage  manager — or  to  any 
body  but  themselves.     Booth,   Irving,   and   Salvini 
were  stage  directors  and  managers,  and  though  they 
did  not  write  the  parts  which  they  acted,  they  cer 
tainly  arranged  them,  and  as  to  some  of  them  they 


172     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

supplied  vital  suggestions.  The  character  of 
Mathias,  in  "The  Bells,"  for  instance,  was  com 
pletely  reconstructed  by  Leopold  Lewis,  at  Irving's 
suggestion,  to  adapt  it  to  his  mysterious  personality 
and  peculiarities  of  style.  Lord  Dundreary,  when 
first  given  to  Sothern  by  Laura  Keene,  was  a 
wretched  part,  about  seventeen  lines  in  length, — "a 
dyed-up  old  man"  she  called  it,  asking  him  to  accept 
it, — but  the  comedian  eventually  expanded  it  till 
it  dominated  the  play,  and  it  is  fair  to  say  that, 
literally,  he  "created"  it. 


THE    FACTS    ABOUT    JEFFERSON'S  RIP. 

Jefferson  was  a  youth  when  he  was  first  attracted 
to  the  part  of  Rip  Van  Winkle,  He  had  seen  it 
played  by  his  half-brother,  Charles  St.  Thomas 
Burke,  who  was  esteemed  by  his  contemporaries  a 
great  comedian,  and  had  acted  in  the  play  with  him, 
as  Seth.  He  has  himself  told  me  that  long  before  he 
attained  a  position  in  which  he  could  publicly  assume 
it  he  frequently  made  up  for  it  and  rehearsed  it  in 
private.  The  play  that  he  at  first  used  was  one 
Burke  had  made,  which  Jefferson  tinkered  and 
improved.  There  were  at  least  ten  plays  on  the 
subject  in  existence  before  Jefferson  ever  appeared 
as  Hip,  and  eight  recorded  performers  of  that  part. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     173 

The  first  Rip  was  Thomas  Flynn,  the  second  was 
Charles  B.  Parsons;  both  of  them  acted  it  in  1828, — 
a  year  before  Jefferson  was  born.  Their  successors 
were  William  B.  Chapman,  1829;  James  Henry 
Hackett,  1830;  Frederick  Henry  Yates,  1831;  Will 
iam  Isherwood,  1833-'34;  Joseph  Jefferson,  the 
second  (our  Jefferson's  father),  about  183(8?),  and 
Charles  Burke,  1849-'50,  or  earlier.  Jefferson  first 
acted  Rip  at  Caruso's  Hall,  in  Washington,  in  1859, 
and  he  continued  to  act  it  for  forty-five  years.  I 
first  saw  him  in  it,  in  the  season  of  1859-'60,  at  the 
Winter  Garden  Theatre,  New  York,  and  was  deeply 
impressed  by  his  performance,  which  almost  ever 
since  I  have  extolled  in  the  press  as  one  of  the  great 
est  pieces  of  acting  that  have  been  seen  in  our  time. 
Down  to  1865,  Hackett,  by  birth  a  Hollander,  was 
highly  esteemed  as  Rip,  but  neither  he  nor  either 
of  the  actors  above  mentioned  was  ever  "just  as 
famous"  in  it  as  Jefferson  became,  though  "Fate" 
had  thrown  it  in  their  way  long  before  that  deity 
had  thrown  it  in  his.  His  achievement  has  been 
more  or  less  disparaged  ever  since  he  first  won  the 
public  suffrage  in  it.  His  success  has  been  ascribed 
to  almost  anything  except  the  real  cause, — for  exam 
ple,  to  Chance,  to  "Fate,"  to  Dion  Boucicault,  and 
to  me, — which  is  mere  nonsense.  Jefferson's  won 
derful  artistic  triumph  as  Rip  Fan  Winkle  was  due 


174    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

to  just  one  person — himself.  He  would  have  gained 
it  if  all  the  persons  who  have  been  credited  with 
"making  him"  had  never  lived.  His  impersonation 
was  entirely  his  own  conception  and  construction — 
a  work  of  pure  genius.  The  play  that  Boucicault, 
in  1865,  in  London,  made  for  him,  on  the  basis  of 
the  old  version  which  he  had  used  for  more  than  six 
years,  was  largely  fashioned  after  suggestions  made 
by  Jefferson  himself,  the  most  important  of  which 
being  that  in  the  mysterious,  supernatural  midnight 
scene  on  the  lonely  mountain  top  the  ghosts  should 
remain  silent  and  only  the  man  should  speak.  Jef 
ferson  had  the  soul  of  a  poet,  the  mind  of  a  dreamer, 
the  eye  of  a  painter,  the  imagination  and  heart  of 
a  genius,  and  he  was  a  consummate  actor.  As  an 
executant  in  acting  he  operated  with  exquisite  pre 
cision,  and  his  art  was  infiltrated  with  light,  geniality, 
and  humor.  "It  is  to  the  author,  the  director,  the 
stage  manager  that  the  true  credit  of  the  creation 
belongs,"  writes  Belasco,  himself  an  author,  a  direc 
tor,  and  a  stage  manager,  and  therefore  not  an  alto 
gether  impartial  witness;  forgetful,  also,  that  Jef 
ferson  was  experienced  in  all  those  callings.  The 
author  of  a  play  provides  the  soul  of  a  part,  the 
actor  provides  the  body  and  vitalizes  it  with  all  his 
being,  and  shapes  and  adorns  it,  revealing  the  soul, 
with  all  his  art: 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     175 

"But  by  the  mighty  actor  brought, 

Illusion's  perfect  triumphs  come, — 
Verse  ceases  to  be  airy  thought, 
And  Sculpture  to  be  dumb!" 

Jefferson  used  only  the  skeleton  of  the  story  of  Rip 
Fan  Winkle  as  told  by  Washington  Irving,  in  "The 
Sketch  Book"  (1819)  :  the  character,  as  he  portrayed 
it,  is  quite  different  from  the  commonplace  sot  desig 
nated  by  Irving.  As  to  Boucicault's  version  of  the 
play — that  dramatist  disparaged  it,  did  not  believe 
in  it,  and  actually  assured  Jefferson,  just  before  the 
curtain  rose  on  its  first  performance  (September  4, 
1865,  at  the  Adelphi  Theatre,  London) ,  that  it  would 
fail;  and  after  he  had  seen  Jefferson's  performance 
he  said  to  that  comedian,  "You  are  shooting  over 
their  heads,"  to  which  Jefferson  answered,  "I  am 
not  even  shooting  at  their  heads — I  am  shooting  at 
their  hearts !3  He  hit  them.  Later,  Boucicault  dis 
covered  what  Jefferson  meant  (he  could  see  a  church 
by  daylight  as  well  as  another!),  and  paid  him  the 
compliment  of  devising  for  himself  an  Irish  Rip 
Van  Winkle,  under  the  name  of  Conn,  the  Shaugh- 
raun,  which  he  admirably  acted,  as  nearly  as  he  could, 
in  Jefferson's  spirit  and  manner.  "Jefferson,"  writes 
Belasco,  "was  the  Yankee  personating  the  Dutch 
man."  Another  mistake.  "Yankee"  is  an  epithet 
of  disparagement  which  the  British  contemptuously 


176     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

applied  to  the  rural  inhabitants  of  New  England 
in  the  time  of  the  American  Revolutionary  War. 
Jefferson  did  not  possess  any  of  either  the  physical 
or  mental  qualities  of  a  New  Englander.  He  was 
of  English,  Scotch,  and  French  lineage.  His  grand 
father  was  a  Yorkshire  man;  his  father  a  Pennsyl- 
vanian;  his  mother  a  French  lady  (born  in  the  Island 
of  San  Domingo) ;  himself  a  native  of  Philadelphia — 
and  no  more  a  "Yankee"  than  J.  A.  Herne  was, 
whose  lineage  was  Irish,  who  was  born  at  Cohoes, 
New  York,  and  whose  performance  of  Rip  (a 
respectable  one)  was  based  in  part  on  Jefferson  and 
in  part  on  Hackett.  It  is  idle  to  disparage  Jeffer 
son  as  Rip  Fan  Winkle.  That  impersonation  will 
live  in  theatrical  history  when  all  the  Hernes, 
McWades,  etc.,  are  lost  in  oblivion! 

A    LEADING    LADY    IN    A    PET. 

Prior  to  presentment  of  "The  Millionaire's  Daugh 
ter"  (May  19,  1879)  at  the  Baldwin  Theatre 
Maguire  had  made  a  contract  requiring  production 
there,  on  May  24  and  25,  of  a  play  entitled  "Cupid's 
Lawsuit":  the  prosperous  though  not  protracted 
career  of  Belasco's  melodrama  was,  accordingly, 
interrupted  on  those  dates  and  resumed  on  the  26th; 
it  ended  on  June  1.  June  2  was  signalized  by  the 


JOSEPH    JEFFERSON    AS    RIP    VAN    WINKLE 


"Und  see,  I  come  back,  und  my  vife  is  gon'  und   my  home  is  gon'.       My 
home  is  gon',  und  my  chil'—  my  chil'  look  in  my  face  und  don'  know 

am!"  -ActV. 


)graph  by  Sarony. 
or's  Collection. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

the  rural  inl:  is  of  New  England 

he  time  of  the  Am  Revolutionary  War. 

Jefferson  did  not  po  hysical 

or  mental  qualities  of  a  He  was 

of  English,  Scotch,  and  age.    His  grand 

father  was  a  Yorkshire  ma?  *r  a  Pennsyl- 

ither  a  French  lady  (born  in  the  Island 
-an  Domingo) ;  himself  a  native  of  Philadelphia — 
and  no  more  a  "Yankee"  than  J.  A.  Herne  was, 
lineage  was  Irish,  who  was  born  at  Cohoes, 
-k,    and   \\  >nce   of   Rip    (a 

on  and 

It  is  idle  to  disparage  Jeffer- 
That  impersonation  will 
ry    when    all    the    Hernes, 
are  lost  in  oblivion! 


•I    A    PET. 

bo  presentment  of  "The  Millionaire's  Daugh- 

Lay    19,    1879)    at    the    Baldwin    Theatre 

had  made  a  contract  requiring  production 

y  24  and  25,  of  a  play  entitled  "Cupid's 

:    the    prosperous   though   not   protracted 

elasco's    melodrama    was,,  accordingly, 

•n  those  dates  and  resumed  on  the  26th; 

on  June  1.    June  2  was  signalized  by  the 


2A    H03H3-=R3L    HS32OL 

.'nog  z\  emori  ^m   bnu  'nog  z\  stiv  \m  bnu  ,>IOBd  emoo  I  ,992  bnU" 

moH 

oHw 


wond  'nob  bnu  eost  ym  ni  dool  Mirio  ym-'lirto  ym  bnu  ,'nog  ei  emoH 

"!mB  1 


.V  toA- 


.noit- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     177 

primary  appearance  in  San  Francisco,  made  at  the 
Baldwin,  of  the  dashing,  sparkling  actress  Rose 
Coghlan,  then  in  the  flush  of  opulent  beauty  and  the 
pride  of  bounteous  success.  Miss  Coghlan  came  to 
the  American  Stage  when  she  was  a  girl  of  twenty, 
performing  at  Wallack's  Theatre,  New  York  (the 
Thirteenth  Street  House),  September  2,  1872,  as 
Mrs.  Honey  ton,  in  "A  Happy  Pair,"  and  in  asso 
ciation  with  the  Lydia  Thompson  Troupe,  as  Jupi 
ter,  in  a  revival  of  "Ixion;  or,  The  Man  at  the 
Wheel."  She  played  many  parts  during  the  ensuing 
seven  years, — gaining  a  memorable  triumph  at  Wai- 
lack's,  September  21,  1878,  as  Lady  Teazle,  when 
"The  School  for  Scandal"  was  revived  there  with  a 
cast  including  John  Gilbert  as  Sir  Peter,  John 
Brougham  as  Sir  Oliver,  Mme.  Ponisi  as  Mrs.  Can 
dor,  and  Charles  F.  Coghlan  as  Charles  Surface. 
Miss  Coghlan's  emergence  on  the  California  Stage 
was  an  event  which  inspired  eager  public  interest. 
She  had  been  engaged  by  Maguire  (who  paid  her 
$500  a  week  for  her  services,  a  large  salary  at  any 
time  and  an  immense  one  in  those  days)  in  com 
pliance  with  the  fervent  importunity  of  Belasco, 
and  the  latter  was  somewhat  disconcerted  at  finding 
her  attitude  toward  him  that  of  arrogant  disdain. 
"Maguire  brought  her  to  the  stage,  for  the  first 
rehearsal,"  Belasco  has  said,  describing  to  me  their 


178    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

meeting:  "and  she  took  her  stand  near  the  stage 
manager's  table,  where  I  sat.  I  rose  to  greet  her, 
but  she  looked  over  me,  past  me,  and  through  me; 
then  she  turned  to  Maguire  and  asked  if  she  might 
meet  the  stage  manager.  I  was  introduced  to  her, 
and  at  last  she  condescended  to  see  me.  'What!' 
she  exclaimed:  'this  boy  to  be  my  director,  after  I 
have  come  from  Wallack's!  Never!'  It  was  rather 
an  embarrassing  situation  for  me,  but  I  had  had  too 
much  experience  of  the  ways  of  leading  ladies  to 
take  offence.  'Is  it  possible/  she  continued,  'that 
men  like  James  O'Neill  and  Lewis  Morrison  act 
under  the  direction  of  a  boy!  For  my  part,  I 
won't  do  it!' — and  she  turned  toward  where  Maguire 
had  been  standing,  only  to  find  that  he  had  slipped 
away, — delighted  with  my  predicament, — leaving  me 
to  deal  as  best  I  could  with  the  celebrated  actress 
I  had  induced  him  to  engage!  'Miss  Coghlan,'  I 
said,  'I  trust  you  will  find  our  stage  competently 
managed;  at  any  rate,  we'll  try  to  please  you:  for 
my  part,  I  shall  be  most  thankful  for  any  sugges 
tions  you  may  be  kind  enough  to  favor  me  with, 
and  you  will  not,  I  assure  you,  find  me  anxious  to 
impose  upon  you  any  business  that  might  conflict 
with  your  own  conceptions.'  With  that,  O'Neill 
and  Morrison  came  in,  together,  and  I  introduced 
them  and  called  the  First  Act.  Before  the  rehearsal 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     179 

was  over  Miss  Coghlan  realized  that,  if  I  did  look 
like  a  boy,  I  was  not  quite  the  tyro  she  had  sup 
posed  me  to  be;  we  were  soon  good  friends,  and 
have  always  remained  so." 

ROSE    COGHLAN    AND    "THE    MOONLIGHT    MARRIAGE." 

Rose  Coghlan  began  her  season  at  the  Baldwin 
as  Lady  Gay  Spanker,  in  "London  Assurance," 
with  Nina  Varian, — who,  also,  then  made  her  first 
appearance  in  San  Francisco, — as  Grace  Harkaway, 
O'Neill  as  Dazzle,,  and  Morrison  as  Charles  Courtly. 
During  the  four  weeks  that  followed  Miss  Coghlan 
was  also  seen  in  "The  School  for  Scandal,"  "A 
Sheep  in  Wolf's  Clothing"  and  "A  Scrap  of  Paper" 
(a  double  bill),  a  revival  of  "The  Danicheffs,"  and 
"Seraphine;  or,  The  Mother's  Secret."  On  June  30 
occurred  the  "first  production  of  the  powerful 
romantic  play  in  five  tableaux,  by  D.  Belasco  and 
James  A.  Herne,"  entitled  "The  Marriage  by 
Moonlight":  the  performance  on  the  opening  night 
was  given  for  the  benefit  of  Company  B,  First 
Infantry,  N.  G.  C.  This  play  was  specially  pre 
pared  for  Miss  Coghlan:  it  was  based  on  Watts 
Phillips'  "Camilla's  Husband," — which  was  origi 
nally  acted  at  the  Royal  Olympic  Theatre,  London, 
November  10,  1862.  The  Belasco  and  Herne  altera 
tion  of  it  was  thus  cast  at  the  Baldwin: 


180    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Lorraine James  O'Neill. 

Felix .Forrest  M.  Robinson. 

Harold Lewis  Morrison. 

Lord  Pippin John  N.  Long. 

Peeping  Tom James  A.  Herne. 

Clarisse Rose  Coghlan. 

Hazel Katherine  Corcoran. 

Lady  Challoner Kate  Benin. 

Lady  Aurelia Blanche  Thome. 

Elise  .  .  . Mollie  Revel. 

On  June  16  Lester  Wallack,  acting  Hugh 
Chalcotte,  in  "Ours,"  began,  at  the  California 
Theatre,  his  only  engagement  in  San  Francisco. 
Miss  Coghlan  (who  was  to  appear  as  a  member  of 
his  theatrical  company  during  the  season  of  1879- 
1880)  apprised  him  of  the  merits  of  "The  Mar 
riage  by  Moonlight"  (or  "The  Moonlight  Mar 
riage,"  as,  finally,  it  was  denominated),  and,  after 
witnessing  a  performance  of  that  play,  Wallack 
expressed  a  desire  to  purchase  it  for  representation 
at  his  New  York  theatre,  with  Miss  Coghlan  in 
the  central  character.  Herne,  however,  had  con- 
i  ceived  a  tentative  plan  of  making  this  play  the 
vehicle  for  a  co-starring  venture,  in  the  East,  by 
his  wife  and  himself,  and  Wallack's  proposal  was 
declined.  Herne  entertained  an  overweening,  if 
natural,  estimate  of  his  wife's  histrionic  abilities. 
Belasco,  in  his  "Story,"  referring  to  Augustin  Daly's 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     181 

well-known   play   of   "Divorce,"   gives   this   sketch 
of  their  early  acquaintance: 

"The  manuscript  arrived,  but  we  had  no  one  to  play 
the  woman's  part,  when  a  young  girl  came  into  the  theatre 
and  asked  to  see  Mr.  Herne.  Her  name  was  Katherine 
Corcoran.  When  she  was  ushered  in  we  saw  at  a  glance 
that  we  had  found  the  heroine  of  'Divorce.'  It  required  a 
petite  woman,  full  of  fascination,  charm,  intensity,  and  with 
the  power  to  weep.  Of  course,  we  did  not  know  her  capaci 
ties,  but  she  seemed  full  of  promise.  She  was  engaged  at 
once.  When  the  time  came  for  rehearsals  she  went  quietly 
through  them, — an  alien  not  particularly  welcome  to  the 
company.  'Who  is  she?'  they  all  asked,  and  the  leading 
man  came  to  Herne  and  myself,  and  laid  before  us  the 
numerous  complaints  he  was  receiving.  As  it  was  very 
obvious  that  Herne  was  in  love  with  her,  and  so  likely  to 
be  prejudiced,  Maguire  turned  to  me.  'She  is  going  to 
make  a  sensation,'  I  said;  'I'll  stake  my  life  on  it.'  And 
she  did,  becoming  one  of  the  big  elements  in  our  support 
and  quite  winning  the  players.  It  was  not  long  before  she 
and  Herne  were  married.  .  .  .  No  one  ever  owed  more  to 
a  woman  than  he  to  little  'K.  C.' " 

This  recollection  must  refer  not  to  the  first  San 
Francisco  production  of  "Divorce"  (as  Belasco  says 
it  does)  but  to  a  revival  of  that  play.  Miss  Cor 
coran  was  a  pupil  of  Miss  Julia  Melville  as  late 
as  1877;  she  gained  her  first  experience  as  an  actress 
in  a  stock  company  at  Portland,  Oregon,  and  she 
joined  the  company  at  the  Baldwin  Theatre,  about 
September-October,  1877.  She  was  married  to 


182     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEL  AS  CO 

Herne  in  April,  1878.  The  first  presentment  of 
"Divorce"  in  San  Francisco  occurred  at  Maguire's 
New  Theatre,  August  31,  1874.  The  purpose  of 
attempting  to  make  Miss  Corcoran  a  star  in  Miss 
Coghlan's  part  in  "The  Moonlight  Marriage"  and 
the  consequent  rejection  of  Wallack's  offer  were 
injudicious  in  themselves  and  certainly  disadvan 
tageous  to  Belasco:  had  that  offer  been  accepted, 
he  might  have  been  established  in  New  York  much 
sooner  than  he  was. — The  manuscript  of  "The 
Moonlight  Marriage"  was  ultimately  consumed  in 
a  fire  which  destroyed  the  Herne  home,  called 
Herne  Oaks,  at  Southampton,  Long  Island,  New 
York,  December  11,  1909. 

After  four  performances  of  "The  Moonlight  Mar 
riage"  had  been  given  at  the  Baldwin  it  was  sus 
pended,  in  order  to  permit  J.  C.  Williamson  and 
his  wife,  "Maggie"  Moore,  to  fulfil  an  engagement 
there, — which  they  did,  presenting  "Struck  Oil" 
and  "The  Chinese  Question"  July  4  and  (afternoon 
as  well  as  night)  5.  The  Belasco  and  Herne  drama 
was  restored  to  the  stage  July  6  and  ran  till  the 
12th.  On  Sunday  night,  the  13th,  a  performance 
was  given  at  the  Baldwin,  "for  the  benefit  of 
Belasco  and  Herne," — both  "The  Moonlight  Mar 
riage"  and  "Rip  Van  Winkle"  being  compressed 
into  the  entertainment. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     183 

"L'ASSOMMOIR"    AND     A    DOUBLE-BARRELLED     BENEFIT. 

The  state  of  theatrical  affairs  in  San  Francisco 
had  been  for  a  considerable  time  prior  to  midsummer, 
1879,  steadily  declining,  and  conditions  at  the  Bald 
win  had  become  equivocal  and  perplexing.  E.  J. 
Baldwin  was  actively  at  variance  with  Maguire, 
whose  formal  lease  of  the  theatre  had  expired  on  the 
preceding  July  1,  and  the  house  was  being  conducted, 
in  "a  hand  to  mouth"  way,  under  some  dubious 
arrangement  of  expediency  between  Maguire  and 
Charles  L.  Gardner.  Heavy  debts  had  been  con 
tracted  and  credit  had  been  exhausted.  "That  'bene 
fit,'"  Belasco  has  declared  to  me,  "was  urgently 
needed!  Maguire  was,  among  other  things,  an  in 
veterate  gambler  and  would  often  stake  every  dollar 
the  treasury  contained.  Then,  if  luck  went  against 
him,  he'd  come  and  tell  us  salaries  could  not  be  paid, 
because  he  had  lost!  The  salaries  were  paid, — out  of 
'Lucky'  Baldwin's  pocket.  But  he  had  grown  tired 
of  backing  a  losing  game  and,  besides,  he  and 
Maguire  had  had  some  special  row, — I  don't  now 
remember  what  it  was  about, — and  Baldwin  had  with 
drawn  his  support.  Expenses  were  very  high:  Miss 
Coghlan's  engagement  had  'run  on'  and  her  $500  a 
week  was  a  heavy  drag:  Herne  and  I  had  an  interest, 
and  we  simply  had  to  have  some  ready  money  to 


184     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

keep  us  going, — so  I  suggested  a  double-barrelled 
'benefit'  as  a  way  of  getting  it." 

A  particular  reason  for  solicitude  when  this 
Belasco-Herne  "benefit"  was  projected  was  urgent 
desire  to  insure  Rose  Coghlan's  appearance — which 
had  been  advertised — as  Gervaise,  in  a  play  called 
"L'Assommoir."  Emile  Zola's  noxious  novel  of  that 
name  was  published,  in  Paris,  in  1878,  and  a  stage 

synopsis  of  it,  made  by  W.   Bushnach   and  

Gastineau,  was  produced,  January  18,  1879,  at  the 
Theatre  Ambigu-Comique.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  Augustin  Daly,  who  chanced  to  be  in  the  French 
capital  soon  afterward,  witnessed  a  performance  of  it 
and,  in  a  letter  written  to  his  brother,  the  late  Joseph 
Francis  Daly,  under  date  of  January  30,  described 
it  in  these  words : 

"  'L'Assommoir'  is  a  disgusting  piece, — one  prolonged 
sigh,  from  first  to  last,  over  the  miseries  of  the  poor,  with 
a  dialogue  culled  from  the  lowest  slang  and  tritest  clap 
trap.  It  gave  me  no  points  that  I  could  use,  and  the  only 
novelty  in  it  was  in  the  lavoir  scene,  where  two  wash 
women  (the  heroine  and  her  rival)  throw  pails  of  warm 
water  (actually)  over  each  other  and  stand  dripping  before 
the  audience." 

Notwithstanding  his  correctly  adverse  opinion  of 
"L'Assommoir"  Daly  was  induced,  in  deference  to 
the  wish  of  his  father-in-law,  John  Duff,  to  buy  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     185 

American  copyright  of  the  work  (for  which  he  paid 
£200,  furnished  by  Duff) ,  and  to  make  a  version  of 
it,  considerably  denaturized, — in  five  acts,  contain 
ing  twelve  tableaux, — which  he  produced  at  the 
Olympic  Theatre,  New  York,  April  30,  1879.  It  was 
a  complete  failure.  (The  only  memorable  incident 
associated  with  that  production  is  that  in  it,  as  Big 
Clemence,  Ada  Rehan,  the  supreme  comedy  actress 
of  her  day,  made  her  first  appearance  under  the 
management  of  Daly.)  On  June  2  an  adaptation 
of  the  French  play,  made  by  Charles  Reade,  was 
brought  out  at  the  Princess'  Theatre,  London, — 
which,  because  of  the  extraordinarily  effective  acting 
in  it  of  Charles  Warner  (1847-1909),  as  Coupeau, 
achieved  immediate  and,  unhappily,  enduring  suc 
cess.  Maguire,  reading  in  a  newspaper  dispatch  of 
that  London  success,  undeterred  by  Daly's  New  York 
failure  (perhaps  stimulated  by  it),  had  at  once  asked 
Belasco  to  make  a  play  on  the  subject  for  the  Bald 
win  Theatre.  This,  as  soon  as  "The  Moonlight  Mar 
riage"  was  launched,  Belasco  had  done, — basing  his 
drama  on  an  English  translation  of  Zola's  book  and 
completing  his  work  within  one  week.  All  concerned 
were  hopeful  that  this  new  drama  of  violent  sensa 
tion  would  please  the  popular  taste  and  serve  to  set 
the  Baldwin  once  more  in  the  path  of  prosperity. 
It  was  presented  at  that  theatre  July  15,  1879,  and 


186     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

it  was  sufficiently  successful  to  gain  and  hold  public 
interest  for  two  weeks, — a  result  due  in  part  to  the 
excellent  acting  with  which  it  was  illustrated,  in 
part  to  the  dexterity  of  Belaseo's  exacting  stage  man 
agement.  A  single  comparative  incident  is  signifi 
cantly  suggestive:  in  Daly's  New  York  production 
the  fall  of  Coupeau  from  a  ladder  was,  palpably, 
made  by  substituting  a  dummy  figure  for  the  actor 
who  played  the  part:  in  Belasco's  San  Francisco 
presentment  the  fall  of  Coupeau  was  so  skilfully 
managed  that,  on  the  opening  night,  it  was  for  sev 
eral  moments  supposed  by  the  audience  that  an 
actual  accident  had  occurred.  This  was  the  cast: 

Coupeau James  O'Neill. 

Lantier .Lewis  Morrison. 

Mes  Bottes  C.  B.  Bishop. 

Bibi-La-Grillade James  A.  Herne. 

Bec-Sali John  N.  Long. 

Pere  Bazonge John  W.  Jennings. 

Goujet Forrest  Robinson. 

Gervaise .Rose  Coghlan. 

Big  Virginie Lillian  Andrews. 

Mme.  Boche Jean  Clara  Walters. 

Mme.  Lorieleaux Mollie  Revel. 

Nana Katherine  Corcoran. 

Clemence    .* , Blanche  Thorn. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     187 

A    HOT    WATER    REHEARSAL. 

Talking  with  me  about  this  play,  Belasco  remarked: 
"We  had  a  lively  time  getting  that  piece  licked  into 
shape  and  produced.  The  cast  was,  practically,  an 
'all  star'  one  (far  finer,  I  know,  than  I  could  get 
together  to-day) ,  several  of  the  members  having  been 
specially  engaged,  and  it  took  a  good  deal  of  diplo 
macy  to  keep  things  tranquil  and  everybody  con 
tented.  I  remember  I  had  an  even  more  disagree 
able  passage  with  Lillian  Andrews  (who  had  been 
brought  in  to  play  Big  Virginie)  than  that  at  my 
first  meeting  with  Miss  Coghlan.  The  Washhouse 
Scene  was  a  hard  one — you  couldn't  fool  with  it; 
the  only  way  to  make  it  go  was  to  do  it! — and  at  the 
dress  rehearsal  Miss  Andrews  refused  point-blank 
to  go  through  it  as  it  was  to  be  done  at  night.  Both 
she  and  Miss  Coghlan  were  under  dressed  with  close- 
fitting  rubber  suits  to  keep  them  dry;  but,  even  so, 
it  was  no  fun  to  be  drenched  with  hot  soapy  water, 
and  I  was  sorry  for  them.  But,  of  course,  the  scene 
had  to  be  properly  and  fully  rehearsed,  and  the  up 
shot  was  I  had  to  tell  Miss  Andrews  she  must  do 
her  business  as  directed  or  leave  the  company.  And, 
after  a  grand  row,  we  had  the  scene  as  it  was  to  be 
at  night.  She  and  Coghlan  and  everybody  con 
cerned  were  in  such  tempers  by  the  time  I  finished 


188     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

reading  the  riot  act  that  everything  was  marvellously 
realistic;  I  doubt  whether  it  was  ever  quite  so  well 
done  at  a  public  performance!" 

Belasco's  "L'Assommoir"  ran  until  July  30,  when 
Miss  Coghlan  ended  her  season  in  San  Francisco. 
On  the  31st  Steele  Mackaye's  "Won  at  Last"  was 
first  performed  at  the  Baldwin;  and,  on  August  11, 
came  little  Lotta,  in  "Musette,"  "La  Cigale,"  and 
other  plays,  her  engagement  extending  to  Sep 
tember  6. 


THE    PLAY    OF    "CHUMS." 

While  thus  employed  at  the  Baldwin  Theatre, — 
that  is,  at  some  time  between  May  and  August,  1879, 
— Belasco  was  asked  by  James  O'Neill  to  write  a 
play  for  his  use  and  that  of  Lewis  Morrison  (1844- 
1906),  his  intimate  friend,  and  he  had  begun  the 
adaptation  of  an  old  drama,  which  he  purposed 
to  entitle  "Chums."  His  original  intention  was  that 
this  should  be  produced  with  O'Neill  and  Morrison 
in  the  chief  parts  (those  actors  being  desirous  of 
leaving  the  Baldwin  Theatre  stock  company  and 
establishing  themselves,  under  a  joint  business  man 
agement,  as  co-stars)  ;  but  he  had  made  no  contract 
nor  even  mentioned  his  project,  and  when,  later, 
his  adapted  play,  then  incomplete,  by  chance  became 


P   B 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     189 

known  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Herne,  with  whom  he  was 
closely  associated,  he  acceded  to  a  proposal  which 
they  made  to  form  a  partnership  with  them  for  its 
production.  Herne,  who  had  first  appeared  in  Cali 
fornia  in  1868,  was  then  well  established  in  popular 
favor;  moreover, — notwithstanding  that  most  of  the 
actual  labor  of  stage  management  devolved  on 
Belasco, — authoritative  control  of  the  Baldwin  stage 
and,  to  a  great  extent,  selection  of  the  plays  to  be 
represented  at  that  theatre  were  vested  in  Herne. 
His  cooperation,  therefore,  was  desirable,  if,  indeed, 
it  was  not  essential;  he  became  a  co-worker  with 
Belasco,  and  between  them  the  play  was  finished. 
During  the  engagement  of  Lotta  Herne  arranged 
for  a  tour  of  Pacific  Slope  towns  by  O'Neill  and 
Morrison,  leading  the  Baldwin  Dramatic  Company, 
beginning  at  Sacramento,  Sunday,  September  7,  in 
a  repertory  which  comprised  "Diplomacy,"  "A 
Woman  of  the  People,"  "Pink  Dominos,"  "Won  at 
Last,"  "L'Assommoir,"  and  "Within  an  Inch  of  His 
Life,"  thus  leaving  the  way  clear  for  rehearsal  and 
production  of  "Chums."  Belasco  and  the  Hernes 
were  expectant  of  great  success  for  this  play.  Hand 
some  scenery  had  been  painted  for  it,  and  ample 
provision  had  been  made  for  the  display  of  those 
accessories  which  please  the  public  taste  for  what 
is  known  as  "realism."  The  prospect  seemed  bright. 


190    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

The  first  performance  occurred  on  September  9, 
1879,  at  the  Baldwin  Theatre,  Katharine  Corcoran 
(Mrs.  Herne)  taking  a  benefit.  The  result  was 
a  bitter  disappointment.  The  receipts  were  extremely 
small  ("I  remember,"  writes  Belasco,  "that,  one 
night,  they  were  only  $17.50!"),  and  after  a  dis 
heartening  run  of  two  weeks  "Chums"  was  with 
drawn, — being  succeeded  by  O'Neill  and  Morrison, 
in  a  revival  of  "Won  at  Last."  This  was  the  San 
Francisco  cast  of  "Chums": 

Terry  Dennison )  __      _.  (         James  A.  Herne. 

•r>  7.     ^        77      >  The  Chums .<--,    „    „ 

Ruby  Darrell      )  ( W.   H.   Haverstraw. 

Uncle  Davy J.  W.   Jennings. 

Owen  Garroway Charles  B.  Bishop. 

Mr.  Ellingham A.  D.  Bradley. 

Foreman  of  the  Mill H.  Thompson. 

Clerk  of  the  Mill Mr.  Pierce. 

Mr.  Parker E.  Ambrose. 

Tom   J.  W.  Thompson. 

Sleuth L.  Paul. 

Chrystal Katherine  Corcoran. 

Aunt  Betsy Annie  A.  Adams. 

Little  Chrystal Maude  Adams. 

The  Baby  . . . .  .Herself. 

By  this  decisive  failure  Herne  was  much  discour 
aged.  Not  so  either  Belasco  or  Mrs.  Herne,  and 
on  a  suggestion  made  by  the  latter  it  was  determined 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     191 

to  take  the  play  on  a  tour  into  the  East.  "I  took 
a  benefit  at  the  Baldwin,"  Belasco  told  me,  "and 
it  was  a  benefit!  Everybody  volunteered;  Maguire 
[the  manager  of  the  Baldwin]  gave  us  the  use  of 
the  theatre ;  the  actors  gave  their  services ;  the  orches 
tra  gave  theirs;  the  newspapers  gave  the  'ads.'  All 
that  came  in  was  clear  gain,  and  I  got  a  little  more 
than  $3,000.  That  was  our  working  capital." 

FROM    SAN    FRANCISCO    TO    CHICAGO. 

With  money  thus  raised  on  Belasco's  behalf,  and 
with  a  play  projected  by  him,  the  business  alliance 
was  arranged, — the  Hernes  to  have  one-half  inter 
est  and  Belasco  the  other.  A  company  was  engaged 
and  the  expedition  was  undertaken, — the  design 
being  to  act  "Chums"  in  various  cities  on  the  way 
to  the  Atlantic  Seaboard,  with  hope  of  securing 
an  opening  in  New  York  and  making  a  fortune.  Ill 
luck,  however,  attended  it.  "Chums"  was  played 
in  Salt  Lake  City  and  other  places,  but  every 
where  in  vain.  At  last,  the  scenery  having  been 
seized  for  debt,  the  company  was  disbanded  and 
the  partners,  almost  penniless,  made  their  way  to 
Chicago.  The  chief  managers  in  that  city  then 
were  James  Horace  McVicker  (1822-1896)  and 
Richard  Martin  Hooley  (1822-1893).  Both  were 


192    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

besought  to  produce  "Chums"  and  both  declined. 
"We  were  in  a  dreadful  way,"  said  Belasco,  in  tell 
ing  me  this  story;  "we  had  gone  to  the  old  Sherman 
House  and  taken  the  smallest,  cheapest  rooms  we 
could  get,  and  Alvin  Hurlbert,  the  proprietor,  had 
let  our  bills  run.  But  at  last  they  had  run  so  long 
we  had  to  make  an  explanation, — and  I  did  the 
explaining.  It  wasn't  an  easy  thing  to  do, — though 
I'd  done  it  before,  in  the  early,  wild  days  in  the 
West.  But  Hurlbert  was  very  kind:  'I  believe  in 
you,  my  boy,'  he  said,  'and  it's  all  right,' — so  we 
had  a  little  more  time  to  hustle  in.  And  we  hustled! 
By  chance  Herne  and  I  went  into  a  kind  of  beer- 
garden,  called  the  Coliseum,  kept  by  John  Hamlin. 
There  was  a  stage,  and  "Fred"  Wren,  in  "On  Time," 
was  giving  impersonations  of  German  character, — 
sort  of  imitation  of  J.  K.  Emmet  in  'Fritz.'  The 
'business'  was  bad;  there  weren't  thirty  people  in  the 
house  when  Herne  and  I  chanced  in.  I  immediately 
proposed  to  Hamlin  that  we  bring  out  'Chums,' 
which  we  had  renamed  'Hearts  of  Oak.'  He  agreed 
to  let  us  have  the  theatre,  but  Hamlin  had  no  money 
to  invest,  so  we  had  to  get  a  production  and  assem 
ble  a  company,  all  without  a  cent  of  capital!  How 
ever,  we  got  credit  in  one  place  or  another,  and 
did  it, — a  production  costing  thousands,  on  credit, 
and  without  a  dollar  of  our  own  in  it!  We  had  a 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     193 

big  success,  although  Hamlin's  Coliseum  wasn't  much 
of  a  place." 

"HEARTS    OF    OAK." 

"Hearts  of  Oak"  ("Chums")  is  based  on  a  melo 
drama  called  "The  Mariner's  Compass,"  by  an  Eng 
lish  dramatist,  Henry  Leslie  (1829-1881),  which 
was  first  produced  at  Astley's  Theatre,  London, 
in  1865,  under  the  management  of  that  wonderfully 
enterprising  person  Edward  Tyrrell  Smith  (1804- 
1877),  and  was  first  acted  in  America,  at  the  New 
Bowery  Theatre,  New  York,  May  22,  that  year, — 
with  Edward  Eddy  as  Silas  Engleheart,  the  proto 
type  of  Terry  Dennison,  and  Mrs.  W.  G.  Jones 
as  Hetty  Arnold,  the  prototype  of  Chrystal.  It 
was  announced  in  Chicago  as  "Herne's  and  Belas- 
co's  American  Play,  in  Five  Acts  and  Six 
Tableaux,"  and  it  was  first  produced  there  on 
November  17,  1879,  at  Hamlin's  Theatre,— I  find  no 
authority  for  calling  it  the  Coliseum,  but  my  records 
of  Chicago  theatres  in  that  period  are  meagre, — with 
this  cast, — Mrs.  Herne  (Katherine  Corcoran)  then 
making  her  first  appearance  in  that  city: 

Terry  Dennison .James  A.  Herne. 

Ruby  Darrell Harry  Mainhall. 

Uncle  Davy William  H.  Crompton. 

Mr.  Ellingham David  Belasco. 

Owen  Garroway ,. .  .Frank  K.  Pierce. 


194.     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Foreman  of  the  Mill William  A.  Lavalle. 

Clerk  of  the  Mill .William  Lawrence. 

Will  Barton Lillie  Hamilton. 

Chrystal Katherine  Corcoran. 

Aunt  Betsy Rose  Watson. 

Little  Chrystal Alice  Hamilton. 

Tawdrey Dollie  Hamilton. 

Mr.  Parker ..  .. J.  A.  Andrews. 

Tom J.  Sherman. 

Sleuth T.  Gossman. 

The  Baby Herself 

After  its  production  at  Hamlin's  Theatre, — desig 
nated  by  Belasco  as  "a  big  success," — "Hearts  of 
Oak"  was  taken  on  a  tour,  but  was  presently 
brought  back  to  Chicago,  and  on  March  15,  1880, 
it  was  presented  at  Hooley's  Theatre,  where  it  was 
again  received  with  public  favor.  In  the  meantime 
the  fact  that  it  was  in  a  considerable  degree  a 
variant  of  an  English  play  of  earlier  date  had  been 
perceived  and  made  known,  and  Hamlin,  offended 
and  resentful  because  Herne  and  Belasco,  return 
ing  to  Chicago,  had  chosen  to  appear  at  Hooley's 
instead  of  coming  back  to  him,  announced  a  revival 
of  the  earlier  play, — Leslie's  "The  Mariner's  Com 
pass,"— with  the  title  of  "Hearts  of  Oak."  A  suit 
at  law  followed,  the  ultimate  decision  being  that 
"The  Mariner's  Compass,"  unprotected  by  Ameri 
can  copyright,  was  free  to  any  person  in  the  United 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     195 

States  who  might  choose  to  use  it,  irrespective  of 
its  author's  moral  rights,  but  that  the  title  of 
"Hearts  of  Oak"  was  owned  by  Herne  and  Belasco, 
in  association  with  their  play,  and  could  not  law 
fully  be  associated  with  another.  The  inimical  pur 
pose  of  Hamlin  was  thus,  in  a  measure,  defeated, 
but  Belasco's  troubles  did  not  stop  there.  Herne 
evinced  much  displeasure  on  learning  that  Belasco's 
play,  on  which  he  had  co-labored,  was  not  strictly 
original.  An  alleged  ground  of  Herne's  displeasure 
was  the  lawsuit.  "Why  didn't  you  tell  me  about 
'The  Mariner's  Compass'?"  he  said,  reproaching 
Belasco:  ffnow  I've  a  damned  lawsuit  on  my  hands!" 
"Well,"  Belasco  rejoined,  "I  don't  see  why  I  should 
have  told  you  anything  about  the  old  play;  and, 
anyway,  I  don't  see  what  you  have  to  complain 
about.  You  ought  to  be  mighty  glad  you've  got 
a  half-interest  in  something  worth  a  lawsuit  to  pro 
tect, — and  you  haven't  got  the  suit  on  your  hands 
any  more  than  I  have  on  miner  The  actual  ground 
of  Herne's  dissatisfaction,  judging  by  his  subse 
quent  treatment  of  Belasco,  probably  was  his  reali 
zation  that,  if  he  had,  in  the  first  place,  been  made 
acquainted  with  "The  Mariner's  Compass,"  he  could 
himself  have  adapted  that  play  to  his  own  use  with 
out  forming  a  partnership  with  anybody. 


196    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCQ 

FIRST    VENTURE    IN    NEW    YORK. 

The  success  gained  in  Chicago  and  other  cities 
relieved  the  Belasco-Herne  triumvirate  from  imme 
diate  pecuniary  embarrassment,  and  notwithstand 
ing  the  existence  of  a  latent  and  growing  antag 
onism  the  path  to  fortune  seemed  to  have  opened 
for  them.  From  Chicago,  after  two  weeks  at 
Hooley's  Theatre,  those  managers  carried  their  play 
to  New  York,  an  opening  having  been  obtained 
through  the  agency  of  Brooks  &  Dickson  (Joseph 
Brooks  [1849-1916]  and  James  B Dick- 
son,  now  [1917]  business  manager  for  Robert  B. 
Mantell),  and  "Hearts  of  Oak"  was  presented,  for 
the  first  time  in  the  metropolis,  March  29,  1880, 
at  the  New  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre,  then  opened 
under  the  management  of  Edward  E.  Rice  and 
Jacob  Nunnemacher.  This  was  the  cast: 

Terry  Dennison James  A.  Herne. 

Ruby  Darrell Harry  Mainhall. 

Uncle  Davy ... William  H.  Crompton. 

Mr.  Ellingham J.  W.  Dean. 

Owen  Garroway H.  M.  Brown. 

Foreman  of  the  Mill J.  S.  Andrews. 

Clerk  of  the  Mill William  Lawrence. 

Will  Barton Lillie  Hamilton. 

Chrystal Katherine  Corcoran. 

Aunt  Betsy. . . . ...  .^... ...Henrietta  Bert  Osborne. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     197 

Little  Chrystal .  . .  ., Alice  Hamilton. 

Tawdrey Dollie  Hamilton. 

Mr.  Parker Mr.  Harvey. 

Tom. ,.  J.  Sherman. 

Sleuth T.  Gossman. 

The  Baby ,. .  .Herself. 

JAMES    ALFRED     HERNE. 

James  Alfred  Herne  (1839-1901)  has  been 
incorrectly  and  injudiciously  vaunted  as  a  great, 
original,  representative  American  dramatist.  The 
claim  is  preposterous.  Herne  was  not  a  dramatist, 
he  was  a  playwright  (that  is,  a  mechanic,  a  maker 
of  plays,  mechanically,  from  stock  material,  pre 
cisely  as  a  wheelwright  is  a  maker  of  wheels),  and 
as  a  playwright  he  was  less  distinctive  than  as  an 
actor.  He  adopted  the  latter  vocation  in  youth, 
first  as  an  amateur,  then  as  a  member  of  a  stock 
company,  making  his  first  professional  appearance 
at  a  theatre  in  Troy,  New  York.  He  obtained  good 
training.  He  participated  in  performances  of  stand 
ard  plays  with  some  of  the  best  actors  who  have 
graced  the  American  Stage, — among  them  James 
Booth  Roberts  (1818-1901),  Edward  Loomis 
Davenport  (1815-1877),  and  the  younger  James 
William  Wallack  (1818-1873).  He  did  not  pos 
sess  a  tithe  of  the  power  and  versatility  of  Daven 
port,  but  he  was  deeply  affected  by  the  influence 


198     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEL  AS  CO 

of  that  noble  actor,  and  he  played  several  parts 
in  close  imitation  of  him, — notably  Sikes,  in  "Oliver 
Twist."  His  dramatic  instinct  was  keen,  but  his 
mind  was  not  imaginative  and  the  natural  bent  of 
it  was  toward  prosy  literalism.  He  was  early, 
strongly,  and  continuously  dominated  by  the  literal 
methods  and  the  humanitarian  and  reformatory 
spirit  of  the  novels  of  Dickens.  He  liked  the  utili 
tarian  and  matter-of-fact  embellishments  with  which 
some  of  those  novels  abound,  and  he  was  attracted 
by  such  characters  as  Peggotty,  a  part  which  he 
acted  and  of  which  his  performance  was  creditable. 
As  an  actor  he  aimed  to  be  photographic,  he  copied 
actual  life  in  commonplace  aspects  as  closely  as 
he  could,  and  often  he  was  slow,  dull,  and  tedious. 
As  a  playwright  he  was  deficient  in  the  faculty  of 
invention  and  in  the  originality  of  characterization. 
He  tinkered  the  plays  of  other  writers,  always  with 
a  view  to  the  enhancement  or  introduction  of 
graphic  situations.  The  principal  plays  with  which 
his  name  is  associated  are  "Hearts  of  Oak,"  "Drift 
ing  Apart,"  "Sag  Harbor,"  "Margaret  Fleming," 
"Shore  Acres,"  and  "The  Rev.  Griffith  Davenport." 
"Hearts  of  Oak"  is  Belasco's  revamp  of  "The 
Mariner's  Compass,"  modified  and  expanded.  The 
characters  in  it  are  not  American:  they  are  trans 
formed  English  characters.  It  was  not  Herne's 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     199 

plan,  it  was  Belasco's,  to  rehabilitate  the  earlier  play 
by  Leslie,  shift  the  places  of  the  action,  shuffle  the 
scenes,  change  the  names  of  the  persons,  introduce 
incidents  from  other  plays,  add  unusual  "stage 
effects,"  and  so  manufacture  something  that  might 
pass  for  a  novelty.  In  reply  to  a  question  of  mine 
as  to  Herne's  share  in  the  making  of  "Hearts  of 
Oak,"  Belasco  said  "he  did  a  lot  of  good  work 
on  it,"  and  when  I  asked  for  specification  of  that 
work  I  was  told  "he  introduced  a  lot  of  Eip  Van 
Winkle  stuff."  "Drifting  Apart"  is  based  on  an 
earlier  play,  called  "Mary,  the  Fisherman's  Daugh 
ter."  "Sag  Harbor"  is  a  variant  of  "Hearts  of 
Oak."  "Margaret  Fleming"  is  mainly  the  work 
of  Mrs.  Herne,  and  is  one  of  those  crude  and  com 
pletely  ineffectual  pieces  of  hysterical  didacticism 
which  are  from  time  to  time  produced  on  the  stage 
with  a  view  to  the  dismay  of  libertines  by  an  exhibi 
tion  of  some  of  the  evil  consequences  of  licentious 
conduct.  In  that  play  a  righteously  offended  wife 
bares  her  bosom  to  the  public  gaze  in  order  to  suckle 
a  famished  infant,  of  which  her  dissolute  husband 
is  the  father  by  a  young  woman  whom  he  has 
seduced,  betrayed,  and  abandoned  to  want  and  mis 
ery:  libertines,  of  course,  are  always  reformed  by 
spectacles  of  that  kind!  (This  incident,  by  the  way, 
occurs,  under  other  circumstances,  in  the  fourth 


200    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

chapter  of  "Hide  and  Seek,"  by  Wilkie  Collins, 
published  in  1854.)  "The  Rev.  Griffith  Daven 
port"  was  deduced  from  a  novel  called  "The 
Unofficial  Patriot,"  by  Helen  H.  Gardner.  "Shore 
Acres"  is,  in  its  one  vital  dramatic  ingredient, 
derived  from  a  play  by  Frank  Murdoch,  called 
"The  Keepers  of  Lighthouse  Cliff," — in  which 
Herne  had  acted  years  before  "Shore  Acres"  was 
written.  It  incorporates,  also,  many  of  the  real 
stage  properties  and  much  of  the  stage  business, — 
the  real  supper,  etc., — used  in  "Hearts  of  Oak." 
Its  climax  is  the  quarrel  of  the  brothers  Martin 
and  Nathan  I  Berry,  the  suddenly  illumined 
beacon,  kindled  by  Uncle  Nat,  and  the  hairbreadth 
escape  of  the  imperilled  ship, — taken,  without  credit, 
from  Murdoch's  drama.  Herne  localized  his  plays 
in  America  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  treated  Ameri 
can  subjects,  but  he  made  no  addition  to  American 
Drama,  and  his  treatment  of  the  material  that  he 
"borrowed"  or  adapted  never  rose  above  respect 
able  mediocrity.  It  was  as  an  actor  that  he  gained 
repute  and  merited  commemoration.  He  was  early 
impressed  by  the  example  of  Joseph  Jefferson  and 
was  emulative  of  him:  he  appeared  in  Jefferson's 
most  famous  character,  Rip  Van  Winkle,  but  he 
did  not  evince  a  particle  of  that  innate  charm,  that 
imaginative,  spiritual  quality,  which  irradiated  Jef- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     201 

ferson's  impersonation  of  the  pictorial  vagabond 
and  exalted  it  into  the  realm  of  the  poetic  ideal. 
Herne  earnestly  wished  for  a  part  in  which  he  might 
win  a  popularity  and  opulence  in  some  degree  com 
mensurate  with  those  obtained  by  Jefferson  as  Rip 
Van  Winkle:  he  eventually  found  it,  or  something 
like  it,  in  Terry  Dennison,  in  "Hearts  of  Oak," 
which  he  acted,  far  and  wide,  for  many  years,  and 
by  which  he  accumulated  a  fortune  of  about  $250,- 
000.  The  influence  of  his  acting,  at  its  best,  was 
humanitarian  and  in  that  respect  highly  commend 
able. — On  April  3,  1878,  Herne  and  Katherine  Cor 
coran  were  wedded,  in  San  Francisco, — that  being 
Herne's  second  marriage.  His  first  wife  was  Helen 
Western.  He  was  a  native  of  Cohoes,  New  York. 
The  true  name  of  this  actor  was  James  Ahearn, 
which,  when  he  adopted  the  profession  of  the  Stage, 
he  changed  to  James  A.  Herne.  It  is  given  in  the 
great  register  of  San  Francisco  as  James  Alfred 
Herne.  His  death  occurred,  June  2,  1901,  at  No. 
79  Convent  Avenue,  near  145th  Street,  New  York. 

ANALYSIS    OF    "HEARTS    OF    OAK." 

I  remember  the  first  performance  of  "Hearts 
of  Oak"  in  New  York.  The  play  was  a  patchwork 
of  hackneyed  situations  and  incidents,  culled  and 


202     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

refurbished  from  such  earlier  plays  as  "Little 
Em'ly,"  "Rip  Van  Winkle,"  "Leah  the  Forsaken," 
and  "Enoch  Arden."  Some  of  those  situations  were 
theatrically  effective,  and  the  quality  of  the  fabric 
was  instinct  with  tender  feeling.  The  articulation 
of  the  parts,  meaning  the  mechanism,  indicated, 
to  some  extent,  an  expert  hand, — which  unquestion 
ably  its  chief  manipulator,  Belasco,  possessed,  and 
which  he  has  since  more  amply  shown.  The  element 
/  of  picture,  however,  exceeded  that  of  action,  and  the 

i 

element  of  commonplace  realism,  manifested  partly 
in  the  drawing  of  character,  partly  in  the  dialogue, 
and  largely  in  the  accessories  and  stage  business, 
was  so  excessive  as  to  be  tiresome.  Real  water, 
real  beans,  real  boiled  potatoes,  and  various  other 
ingredients  of  a  real  supper,  together  with  a  real 
cat  and  a  real  (and  much  discontented)  baby,  were 
among  the  real  objects  employed  in  the  representa 
tion.  Such  things,  particularly  when  profusely  used 
in  a  play,  are  injurious  to  dramatic  effect,  because 
they  concentrate  attention  on  themselves  and  dis 
tract  it  from  the  subject  and  the  action  to  be  con 
sidered.  Accessories  should  blend  into  the  investi 
ture  of  a  play  and  not  be  excrescences  upon  it. 
There  is,  however,  a  large  public  that  likes  to  see 
on  the  stage  such  real  objects  as  it  customarily 
sees  in  the  dwelling  or  the  street, — a  real  fireplace, 


From  a  photograph  by    (Stevens?). 

JAMES  A.  HERNE 


The   Albert   Davis   Collection. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    203 

a  real  washtub,  a  real  dog,  a  real  horse,  all  the  usual 
trappings  of  actual  life:  that  is  the  public  which 
finds  its  chief  artistic  pleasure  in  recognition.  It 
was  present  on  many  occasions  during  the  career 
of  "Hearts  of  Oak,"  and  with  this  plethora  of  real 
and  commonplace  objects  it  was  much  pleased. 

In  the  story  of  "Hearts  of  Oak"  a  young  man, 
Ruby  Darrell,  and  a  young  woman,  Chrystal 
(Dennisont),  who  love  each  other  and  wish  to  wed, 
privately  agree  to  abnegate  themselves  in  order 
that  the  young  woman  may  marry  their  guardian 
and  benefactor,  Terry  Dennison,  out  of  gratitude 
to  him.  This  immoral  marriage  is  accomplished 
and  in  time  the  wife  becomes  a  mother.  In  time, 
also,  the  injured  guardian  discovers, — what,  if  he 
had  possessed  even  ordinary  discernment,  he  would 
have  discovered  in  the  beginning, — that  his  wife's 
affections  are  fixed  on  Darrell.  The  miserable 
Dennison  then  goes  away,  after  privately  arrang 
ing  that  if  he  does  not  return  within  five  years 
Darrell  shall  wed  with  Chrystal.  Six  years  pass; 
Dennison  is  reported  to  have  perished  at  sea  in  the 
wreck  of  a  Massachusetts  ship,  and  Chrystal  and 
Ruby  erect  a  churchyard  monument  to  his  memory. 
Then  Chrystal,,  believing  herself  to  be  a  widow,  mar 
ries  her  lover.  But  the  desolate  husband  is  not  dead ; 
he  reappears,  blind,  destitute  and  wretched,  on  the 


204     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

wedding  day,  and  in  a  colloquy  with  his  child,  out 
side  of  the  church  within  which  the  marriage  is 
being  solemnized  and  seated  on  the  base  of  his 
memorial  among  the  graves,  he  ascertains  the  exist 
ent  circumstances  and  presently  expires,  while  his 
wife  and  little  daughter  pitifully  minister  to  him 
as  to  a  stranger.  The  misery  and  pathos  of  the 
experience  and  situation  are  obvious.  It  is  also 
obvious  that,  in  the  fulfilment  of  a  central  purpose 
to  create  a  situation  and  depict  a  character  instinct 
with  misery  and  pathos,  the  element  of  probability  was 
disregarded.  The  chief  part  is  that  of  the  injured, 
afflicted,  suffering  guardian,  who,  as  a  dramatic 
character,  is  a  variant  of  Enoch  Arden  and  Harebell. 
In  acting  Dennison,  Herne,  while  often  heavy 
and  monotonous,  gained  sympathy  and  favor  by 
the  simplicity  of  his  demeanor,  his  facile  assump 
tion  of  manliness,  and  his  expert  simulation  of  deep 
feeling;  but  he  did  nothing  that  had  not  been  done 
before,  and  much  better  done,  by  other  actors, — 
in  particular,  by  Edwin  Adams  in  Enoch  Arden, 
and  by  William  Rufus  Blake  and  Charles  Fisher 
in  Peggotty  and  kindred  parts,  of  which  the  fibre 
is  rugged  manliness  and  magnanimity.  Katherine 
Corcoran,  playing  Chrystal,  gave  a  performance 
that  was  interesting  more  by  personality  than  by 
art.  She  had  not  then  been  long  on  the  Stage.  She 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    205 

was  handsome,  graceful,  and  winning,  of  slender 
figure,  with  an  animated,  eagerly  expressive  face, 
blue-gray  eyes,  silky  brown  hair,  and  a  sweet  voice. 
In  calm  moments  and  level  speaking  she  was  effi 
cient.  In  excitement  her  vocalism  became  shrill 
and  her  action  spasmodic.  Scenery  of  more  than 
common  merit,  painted  by  William  Voegtlin,  was 
provided  to  embellish  the  play,  at  the  Fifth  Avenue 
Theatre.  One  picture,  in  particular,  representing 
a  prospect  of  a  tranquil  seacoast,  was  excellent  in 
composition,  true  and  fine  in  color,  and  poetic  in 
quality;  another  effectively  portrayed  a  broad 
expanse  of  troubled  sea,  darkening  ominously  under 
a  sombre  sky  tumultuous  with  flying  scud.  Herne 
somewhat  improved  the  play  in  the  course  of  his 
protracted  repetitions  of  it,  after  he  parted  from 
Belasco,  but  he  always  retained  in  it  the  "real" 
trappings  which  Belasco  had  introduced.  Both 
those  actors,  as  playwrights,  were  conjunctive  in 
favor  of  "limbs  and  outward  flourishes," — the  "real 
tubs"  of  Mr.  Crummies. 


FAILURE    AND    ITS    CONSEQUENCES. 

The  play,  which  without  Belasco's  consent  or 
knowledge  was  announced  in  New  York  as  "by 
James  A.  Herne"  (mention  being  made,  in  the  pro- 


206   THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

gramme,  that  it  was  remotely  based  on  "The 
Mariner's  Compass,"  but,  practically,  was  Herne's 
original  composition!),  failed  there.  Belasco  states, 
in  his  "Story,"  that  it  was  produced  in  "the  summer 
time,"  and  adds  that  "notwithstanding  the  play's 
success,  we  could  not  combat  the  intense  humidity." 
That  statement  is  incorrect.  March  is  not  summer, 
and  it  was  not  "intense  humidity33  but  intense  frost 
that  could  not  be  combated.  The  business  was  fur 
ther  injured  by  the  fact  that  Herne  was  on  several 
occasions  incapacitated  to  appear,  and  Belasco 
replaced  him  as  Terry  Dennison.  The  initial 
expenses  had  been  heavy,  the  profit  was  soon  almost 
dissipated,  the  engagement  was  ended  April  16, 
and,  on  going  to  Philadelphia,  to  fulfil  an  engage 
ment  at  Mrs.  Drew's  Arch  Street  Theatre,  the  part 
ners  quarrelled.  Herne  there  expressed  to  Belasco 
his  opinion  that  the  play  was  rubbish,  that  he  was 
wasting  his  time  by  acting  in  it,  and  proposed  that 
Belasco  should  buy  his  half  interest,  for  $1,500, 
or  ^that  he  should  buy  Belasco's  for  the  same 
amount, — "knowing,"  Belasco  has  told  me,  "that  I 
had  not  drawn  any  of  my  share  of  the  profits,  while 
there  were  any;  that  I  had  been  living  and  keeping 
my  family,  in  San  Francisco,  on  $50  a  week  (I 
was  allowed  that  and  talked  to  all  the  time  about 
'the  barrels  of  money  "Dave"  would  have  at  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    207 

end  of  the  season'!),  and  also  knowing  that  I  didn't 
have  fifteen  hundred  cents!"  Herne,  after  pro 
fuse  condemnation  of  the  play  and  harsh  censure 
of  Belasco,  in  which  he  was  sustained  by  his  busi 
ness  associate,  Frederick  W.  Burt,  finally  obtained 
Belasco's  signature  to  an  agreement  to  sell  to  Herne, 
for  $1,500,  all  his  half-interest  in  "Hearts  of  Oak," 
and  so  that  play  became  Herne's  exclusive  property. 
The  purchase  money  was  not  paid,  but  Herne  gave 
a  promissory  note  for  it.  Later,  realizing  that  he 
had  acted  imprudently,  Belasco  called  on  his  friend 
Mrs.  John  Drew,  informed  her  of  the  business,  and 
asked  her  advice.  That  eminently  practical  lady 
was  both  sympathetic  and  indignant.  She  com 
mended  him  to  her  attorneys,  Messrs.  Shakespeare  » 
and  Devlin,  and  desired  that  they  should  see  what 
could  be  done  "for  this  boy."  There  was,  however, 
little  to  do.  "You  are  of  age,"  said  Devlin,  "you've 
signed  an  agreement;  you'll  have  to  stand  by  it, — 
but  I'll  get  you  the  $1,500.  The  first  thing  is  to 
find  where  Herne  banks."  That  information  was 
easily  obtained,  and  Belasco  and  Devlin  repaired 
to  the  bank, — where  they  met  Herne  coming  out, 
and  where,  a  few  moments  later,  they  were  told 
that  he  had  withdrawn  his  money  and  closed  his 
account.  The  $1,500  was  not  paid  until  several  years 
later,  when  Belasco,  then  employed  at  the  Madison 


208    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Square  Theatre,  New  ,York,  stated  the  facts  to 
Marshall  H.  Mallory,  one  of  the  managers  of  that 
house,  and,  with  assistance  of  his  lawyers,  obtained 
from  Herne  payment  of  the  debt,  with  interest. 

SAN    FRANCISCO    AGAIN. 

Meantime,  Belasco  had  been  left  in  a  painful 
predicament.  "I  had,"  he  told  me,  "quite  honestly, 
but  very  extravagantly,  painted  our  success  in  bril 
liant  colors  when  writing  to  my  dear  wife, — and 
there  I  was,  in  Philadelphia,  without  enough  money 
to  pay  my  fare  back  to  San  Francisco,  and  nobody 
to  borrow  from.  I  went,  first,  to  New  York,  hoping 
to  get  employment,  but  luck  was  against  me — I 
could  get  nothing,  and  I  spent  three  nights  on  the 
benches  in  Union  Square  Park.  I  met  Marcus 
Mayer,  a  friend  of  mine,  in  the  Park  one  morning, 
and  he  got  part  of  my  story  from  me,  lent  me  some 
money,  and  promised  to  try  to  help  me  further. 
But  I  had  to  get  to  San  Francisco,  and  as  soon 
as  he  lent  me  a  little  money  I  made  up  my  mind 
to  start.  It  took  me  eighteen  days  to  make  the 
trip,  but  I  did  it, — paying  what  I  could,  persuading 
conductors  and  brakemen  to  let  me  ride  free,  if 
only  for  a  few  miles,  and,  when  I  was  put  off,  steal 
ing  rides  on  anything  that  was  going.  I  got  there, 
but  it  was  a  pretty  wretched  homecoming.  I  had 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO   209 

to  swallow  any  pride  I  had  left  and  go  to  work 
again  at  the  Baldwin, — where  I'd  been  stage  man 
ager  and  playwright  and  amounted  to  something, — 
and  where  now  I  played  anything, — 'bits,'  mostly, — 
given  me:  I  got  only  $25  a  week." 

The  story  of  Belasco's  venture  with  "Hearts  of 
Oak"  has  been  told  minutely  for  the  reason  that  it 
involves  his  first  determined  effort  to  break  away 
from  what  he  viewed  as  thraldom  in  the  Theatre 
of  San  Francisco,  and  make  for  himself  a  position 
in  the  metropolis  of  the  country.  The  failure  of 
that  effort  was  a  bitter  humiliation  and  disappoint 
ment  to  him.  It  did  not,  however,  weaken  his  pur 
pose.  After  he  rejoined  the  Baldwin  he  was  not 
long  constrained  to  occupy  a  subservient  position. 

BELASCCPS    RECOLLECTIONS    OF    ADELAIDE    NEILSON.   . 

One  of  the  associations  of  Belasco's  professional 
life  much  prized  by  him  is  that  with  the  lovely 
woman  and  great  actress  Adelaide  Neilson.  Miss 
Neilson  first  appeared  in  San  Francisco,  March  10, 
1874,  at  the  California  Theatre,  acting  Juliet, — of 
which  part  she  was  the  best  representative  who  has 
been  seen  within  the  last  sixty  years.  During  her 
engagement  at  the  California,  which  lasted  till 
March  30,  and  in  the  course  of  which  she  acted 


. 


210    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Rosalind,  Lady  Teazle,  Julia,  in  "The  Hunchback," 
and  Pauline,  in  "The  Lady  of  Lyons,"  as  well  as 
Juliet,  Belasco  was  employed  in  the  theatre,  acting 
as  an  assistant  to  the  prompter,  and  participating 
as  a  super  in  all  the  plays  that  were  presented. 
"Little  a  thing  as  it  is,"  he  has  said  to  me,  "I  have 
always  been  proud  to  remember  that  I  danced  with 
her,  in  the  minuet,  in  'Romeo  and  Juliet,'  the  first 
night  she  ever  played  in  our  city.  I  never  saw  such 
wonderful  eyes,  or  heard  a  voice  so  silver-toned,  so 
full  of  pathos,  so  rich  and  thrilling.  I  shall  never 
forget  how  deeply  affected  I  was  when,  in  the  dance, 
for  the  first  time  I  touched  her  hand  and  she  turned 
those  wonderful  eyes  on  me" 

When  Belasco  was  re-employed  at  the  Baldwin 
Miss  Neilson  was  acting  there,  in  the  second  week 
of  her  farewell  engagement,  which  began  on  June  8. 
On  July  17  that  engagement  closed,  and  one 
of  the  brightest  yet  saddest  of  theatrical  careers 
came  to  an  end.  Belasco,  always  closely  atten 
tive  to  his  stage  duties,  never  depended  on  any 
body  but  himself  to  give  the  signals  for  raising  and 
lowering  the  curtain,  and,  on  that  night,  he  "rang 
down"  on  the  last  performance  Adelaide  Neilson 
ever  gave.  The  bill  was  the  Balcony  Scene,  from 
"Romeo  and  Juliet,"  and  the  play  of  "Amy  Robsart." 
In  the  course  of  the  performance  Belasco,  after  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    211 

Balcony  Scene,  went  to  assist  her  in  descending 
from  the  elevated  platform  and,  as  she  came  down, 
she  laid  a  hand  on  his  shoulder  and  sprang  to  the 
stage, — losing  a  slipper  as  she  did  so.  Belasco  took 
it  up.  "You  may  keep  it,"  she  said,"for  Rosemary," 
— and,  says  Belasco,  "having  thanked  her  I  nailed 
it,  then  and  there,  to  the  wall  hy  the  prompter's 
stand  and  there  it  stayed,  as  a  mascot,  for  years." 
Referring  to  that  last  night  of  her  stage  career, 
Belasco  has  written  the  following  reminiscence: 

THE    BLACK    PEARL. 

"Like  other  stars  of  the  day,  Miss  Neilson  expressed  a 
desire  to  give  every  member  of  her  company  a  memento.  I 
was  waiting  at  the  green-room  door  to  escort  her  to  the 
hotel,  when  she  called  me  into  her  dressing-room.  'You  are 
so  weird  and  mysterious,  and  perhaps  I  may  never  see  you 
again.  Look  over  those  things  and  choose  something  for 
yourself.'  On  her  dressing-room  table  she  had  piled  all 
her  wonderful  jewels,  a  fortune  of  immense  value.  I  remem 
ber  that  her  maid,  a  little  deformed  woman,  stood  by  me 
as  I  hesitated.  'Yes,  to  bring  you  luck,'  she  replied  and 
there  was  a  faint  chuckle  in  her  throat.  Rubies,  diamonds, 
emeralds — they  dazzled  my  eyes.  I  finally  reached  forward 
and  picked  a  black  pearl.  I  said,  'I'll  take  this.'  Miss 
Neilson's  face  turned  white,  and  she  closed  her  eyes.  'Oh, 
David,  why  do  you  ask  for  that?'  she  cried,  and  I  dropped 
it  as  though  I  had  done  an  evil  thing.  'I'm  superstitious,' 
she  confessed.  'My  trunk  is  full  of  nails,  horseshoes,  and 
the  luckiest  thing  of  all  is  that  little  black  pearl.  I  dislike 


212    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

to  refuse  you  anything,  but  I  know  you  will  understand.' 
I  hastily  selected  a  small  emerald,  and  with  a  feeling  almost 
of  temerity  I  left  the  room.  All  during  the  farewell  supper 
that  followed  she  would  bring  the  conversation  back  to  the 
strangeness  of  my  choice,  until  I  thought  she  would  never 
cease,  and  just  on  my  account.  'If  I  gave  up  that  pearl,  I 
shouldn't  live  a  month.  Some  one  told  me  that,  and  I  believe 
it,'  she  said. 

"When  she  left  on  the  morrow  she  made  me  promise  that 
if  I  ever  visited  London  I  would  seek  her  out,  but  that 
was  the  last  I  saw  of  Adelaide  Neilson.  She  had  gone  no 
farther  than  Reno  when  she  wrote  me,  sending  me  a  little 
package  in  which  was  buried  the  black  pearl.  'I  cannot 
get  your  voice  out  of  my  mind,'  she  wrote.  Six  months 
afterwards  she  died  in  a  little  French  village.  She  had 
returned  tired  and  dusty  to  the  inn  from  a  ramble  in  the 
leafy  lanes  of  Normandy,  and,  drinking  a  glass  of  ice-cold 
milk,  was  suddenly  dead  in  an  hour.  [She  died  in  less  than 
one  month — August  15,  1880,  at  a  chalet,  in  the  Bois  de 
Boulogne,  Paris,  becoming  ill  while  driving. — W.  W.] 

"Of  course  I  had  told  my  family  the  incident,  and  one 
afternoon,  while  I  was  out,  my  mother  went  to  my  room, 
and,  for  fear  of  ill-luck  pursuing  me,  destroyed  the  black 
pearl.  Such  incidents  have  been  put  into  plays  and  audi 
ences  have  laughed  over  the  improbability,  but  here's  an 
indisputable  fact.  Charge  it  to  the  long  arm  of  coincidence, 
if  you  will,  but  in  my  own  career  I  have  met  so  many  occur 
rences  that  are  stranger  than  fiction  that  I  cannot  doubt  the 
workings  of  coincidence  any  longer. 

"Often  during  this  engagement  she  had  spoken  of 
Mr.  William  Winter  in  terms  of  gratitude  and  respect, 
and  that  the  sentiment  must  have  been  mutual  we  have 
ample  verification  in  his  many  valuable  books.  From  these 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     213 

pages  we  of  to-day  are  able  to  recreate  once  more  the 
golden  art  of  the  greatest  Juliet  of  all  times.  'Dear  William 
Winter,'  I  remember  hearing  her  say,  'how  much  I  have  to 
thank  him  for  help  and  advice !' " 


MISS    NEILSON'S    GOOD    INFLUENCE. 

Adelaide  Neilson,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
errors  of  her  early  life,  was  intrinsically  a  noble 
woman,  and  any  man  might  well  be  proud  to  have 
gained  her  kindly  interest.  In  the  often  abused  art 
of  acting,  to  pass,  as  she  did,  from  the  girlish  glee 
and  artless  merriment  of  Viola  to  the  romantic, 
passion-touched,  tremulous  entrancement  of  Juliet, 
thence  to  the  ripe  womanhood  of  Imogen,  and 
finally  to  the  grandeur  of  Isabella,  is  to  fill  the 
imagination  with  an  ideal  of  all  that  is  excellent  in 
woman  and  all  that  makes  her  the  angel  of  man's 
existence  and  the  chief  grace  and  glory  of  the 
world.  All  acting  is  illusion:  "the  best  in  this  kind 
are  but  shadows."  Yet  she  who  could  thus  fill  up 
the  measure  of  ideal  beauty  surely  possessed  glori 
ous  elements.  Much  for  her  own  sake  is  this 
actress  remembered — much,  also,  for  the  ever 
"bright  imaginings"  she  prompted  and  the  high 
.thoughts  that  her  influence  inspired  and  justified 
as  to  woman's  nature.  As  the  poet  bore  in  his  heart 
the  distant,  dying  song  of  the  reaper,  "long  after 


214     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

it  was  heard  no  more,"  so  and  with  such  feeling  is 
her  acting  treasured  in  memory.  Woman,  for  her 
sake  and  the  sake  of  what  she  interpreted,  has  ever 
been,  by  those  who  saw  and  knew  her,  more  highly 
prized  and  reverenced, — a  beneficent  result  the 
value  of  which  cannot  be  overstated.  As  Byron 
wrote : 

"The  very  first 

Of  human  life  must  spring  from  woman's  breast; 
Your  first  small  words  are  taught  you  from  her  lips; 
Your  first  tears  quenched  by  her,  and  your  last  sighs 
Breathed  out  in  woman's  hearing." 


"PAUL    ARNIFF." 

During  Miss  Neilson's  engagement  at  the  Bald 
win  Belasco's  indefatigible  industry  had  been 
bestowed  on  a  play,  modelled  on  "The  Danicheffs," 
— a  drama  on  a  Russian  subject  which  had  been 
produced  at  the  Union  Square  Theatre,  New  York, 
February  5,  1877.  His  play,  named  "Paul  Arniff; 
or,  The  Love  of  a  Serf,"  was  derived  in  part  from 
"The  Black  Doctor,"  and  was  announced  as  "founded 
on  one  of  the  very  best  pieces  ever  produced  at  the 
Porte  St.  Martin  Theatre,  Paris."  It  was  not 
remarkable,  being  a  loosely  constructed  melodrama, 
— some  portions  of  which  were  well  devised  and 


ADELAIDE     NEILSON 

'And  0,  to  think  the  sun  can  shine, 

The  birds  can  sing,  the  flowers  can  bloom, 
And  she,  whose  soul  was  all  divine, 
Be  darkly  mouldering  in  the  tomb!" 

-W,  W, 


)m  a  miniature  on  porcelain, 
thor'a  Collection. 


214  IFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

>iiore,"  so  and  wi:              feeling  is 

ing  treasured  y.     Woman,  for  her 

and  the  sak  'is  ever 

been,  by  those  w>  highly 

prized    and    rev<  t    result    the 

val<            which  cannot  be  ov<  As  Byron 

wr< 

"The  very  first 

Of  bur;  >'  spring  from  woman's  breast; 

>r  first  smftll  w  taught  you  from  her  lips; 

t  sighs 

Breath^ ' 


l€  Bald- 
*     been 

ie  Danicheffs," 

iiich  had  been 

oatre,  New  York, 

187"  *ed  "Paul  Arniff ; 

s announc  ounded 

i  at  the 

yas    riot 

drama, 

ed  and 


W|jy 
•  fT 

ao  si/rJuirrira   B   mt 
e'lorf; 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     215 

cleverly  written,  while  other  portions  were  clumsy 
and  turgid.  It  depicted  the  experience  of  a  Russian 
serf,  Paul  Arniff,,  who,  loving  an  imperious  woman 
of  exalted  social  station,  Marianna  Droganoff*  and 
finding  his  passion  played  with,  first  forced  that  dis 
dainful  female  into  marriage  with  him  (as  an  alter 
native  to  drowning  with  him,  on  a  remote  tidal 
island  to  which  he  had  lured  her),  and  subsequently, 
raising  himself  to  distinction  by  development  of  his 
natural  talents,  gained  her  genuine  affection,  and 
made  her  happy.  Recalling  the  production  of  that 
play,  Belasco  writes:  "At  the  time  'Paul  Arniff'  was 
put  into  rehearsal  there  was  in  the  Baldwin  company 
a  tall,  slender  young  woman  of  singular  complexion 
and  striking  appearance,  whose  stage  name  was 
Adelaide  Stanhope.  She  came  from  Australia,  where 
she  had  gained  some  reputation,  but  she  had  had  no 
good  opportunity  at  the  Baldwin  and  was  discour 
aged  and  dissatisfied.  She  and  I  had  become  friends, 
she  was  cast  for  the  heroine  of  my  play  and,  know 
ing  the  cause  of  her  discontent  and  wishing  to  help 
her,  I  built  up  her  character  all  I  could  during 
rehearsals, — O'Neill,  ever  chivalrous,  generous  and 
sympathetic,  acquiescing,  though  it  encroached  a  good 
deal  on  his  own  part:  but  the  success  she  made  and 
her  consequent  happiness  more  than  repaid  us  both. 
She  afterward  became  the  wife  of  Nelson  Wheat- 


216     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

croft,  with  whom  I  was  associated  at  the  Lyceum 
and  the  Empire,  in  New  York." — The  Baldwin 
stock  company,  succeeding  Miss  Neilson,  presented 
"Paul  Arniff"  on  July  19,  1880,  and  acted  in  that 
play  for  one  week.  This  was  the  cast: 

Paul  Arniff James  O'Neill. 

Count  Andrea  Droganoff  .  . . . ..  James  O.  Barrows. 

Baron  Woronoff .John  Wilson. 

M.  de  Verville . . Doud. 

Father  Eliavna Nowlin. 

Marlanna Adelaide  Stanhope. 

Princess  Anna  Orloff . Jean  Clara  Walters. 

Countess  Droganoff  . .  . . Kate  Denin. 

Wanda Blanche  Thorne. 

Tforza , f , Nellie  Wetherill. 


WANING    FORTUNES    AT    THE    BALDWIN. 

Adelaide  Neilson's  farewell  season  at  the  Baldwin 
Theatre  (during  which  it  was  guaranteed  that  she 
should  receive  not  less  than  $500  a  performance) 
was  almost  the  last  notably  remunerative  engage 
ment  filled  there  during  Maguire's  tenancy  of  that 
house.  Indeed,  theatrically,  "the  most  high  and 
palmy  state"  of  San  Francisco  was  passed,  and  the 
history  of  the  Baldwin,  and  of  the  stock  company 
at  that  theatre,  for  the  two  years  which  followed 
(July,  1880,  .to  July,  1882),  is  one  of  anxious  striv- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    217 

ing,  strenuous  endeavor,  often  brilliant  achievement, 
public  indifference,  defeated  hopes,  declining  fort 
unes,  fitful  renewals  of  prosperity  quickly  followed 
by  periods  in  which  bad  business  grew  always  a  little 
worse,  and  ultimate  failure  and  disintegration.  When 
Belasco  began  his  effort  to  rehabilitate  and  reestab 
lish  himself  there,  "playing  mostly  bits,"  as  he 
expressed  it  to  me,  James  H.  Vinson  and  Robert 
Eberle  were,  officially,  in  charge  of  the  stage  and, 
though  he  did  much,  if  not  most,  of  the  actual  labor 
of  stage  management,  his  services  were  not  publicly 
acknowledged.  For  reasons  of  business  expediency, 
therefore,  he,  for  a  time,  reverted  to  use  of  the  name 
of  Walter  Kingsley,  which  appears  in  various  pro 
grammes.  After  a  few  weeks,  however,  Eberle  with 
drew  from  the  stage,  devoting  himself  to  business 
affairs  of  the  theatre,  and  Belasco  soon  worked  back 
into  his  former  place  as  director  and  playwright. 
His  "Paul  Arniff"  was  followed,  July  26,  by  the 
first  presentment  of  a  drama,  taken  from  the  French, 
entitled  "Deception,"  by  Samuel  W.  Piercy,  who 
personated  the  chief  character  in  it,  Raoul  de 
Ligniers.  Later,  that  play,  renamed  "The  Legion 
of  Honor,"  was  presented  by  Piercy  in  many  cities 
of  our  country:  it  was  brought  out  at  the  Park 
Theatre,  New  York,  on  November  9,  1880.  That 
capital  actor  Frederic  de  Belleville,  coming  from 


218    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Australia,  made  his  first  appearance  in  America 
when  it  was  acted  at  the  Baldwin.  "Deception"  was 
followed,  August  9,  by  "An  Orphan  of  the  State" 
(known  to  our  Eastern  Stage  as  "A  Child  of  the 
State"),  and,  on  August  16,  by  the  first  appearance 
of  John  T.  Malone,  who  performed  as  Richelieu^ — 
Barton  Hill  playing  De  Mauprat.  Belasco  greatly 
liked  Malone  and,  in  his  "Story,"  gives  this  glimpse 
of  him: 


AN    OLD    ACQUAINTANCE,—JOHN    T.    MALONE. 

"An  oldtime  companion  of  mine  at  this  period  was  John 
T.  Malone,  studying  for  the  Catholic  priesthood.  But 
beneath  the  cassock  my  friend  harbored  a  great  love  for  the 
Stage,  and  among  his  intimate  circle  had  won  quite  a  repu 
tation  as  a  Shakespearean  scholar.  I  remember  the  morn 
ing  he  came  to  the  Baldwin  Theatre  and  told  me  the  story 
of  his  ambition.  I  engaged  him  at  once,  struck  by  his 
personality!  'I've  been  waiting  many  years,'  said  he,  and 
now  the  time  has  come.'  .  .  .  Later,  he  supported  Booth 
and  Barrett  and  his  name  will  ever  be  associated  with  that 
splendid  gentleman  who  founded  The  Players.  As  the  years 
passed  he  became  a  victim  of  Time's  revenges;  nurtured  in 
the  blank  verse  school,  his  engagements  became  fewer  and 
fewer  until  they  utterly  dwindled  away.  Often  I  picture 
him  as  an  actor  of  exceedingly  great  talent,  but  it  had  no 
outlet  for  its  practical  use.  His  is  one  of  the  many  sad 
cases  in  the  theatrical  world  of  'exits'  marked  by  poverty 
and  loneliness," 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    219 

I  know  not  whether  Malone  ever  studied  for  the 
priesthood:  I  know,  however,  that  he  was  educated 
for  the  profession  of  law,  and  that  in  his  young  man 
hood  he  practised  law  in  San  Francisco.  He  was 
born  in  1854,  I  believe  in  that  city,  and  he  died  in 
New  York,  January  15,  1906:  he  richly  merited  com 
memoration.  He  was  a  good  man  and  a  talented, 
zealous,  reverent  servant  of  the  Stage.  No  actor 
of  our  time  more  dearly  loved  his  profession  or  more 
devoutly  and  unselfishly  labored  in  its  support, 
though  his  career  was  not  attended  with  any  specially 
brilliant  achievements  or  extraordinary  incidents. 
He  was  a  careful  and  thoughtful  student  of  Shake 
speare,  and  his  acquaintance  with  the  works  of  the 
great  dramatist  was  intricate,  extensive,  and  minute. 
He  wrote  much  upon  that  subject,  and  his  contribu 
tions  to  contemporary  magazines,  in  the  vein  of 
Shakespearean  criticism,  are  of  peculiar  interest.  In 
his  domestic  life  he  was  unfortunate  and  unhappy, 
but  to  the  last  he  retained  a  philosophical  spirit  and 
a  genial  mind.  As  a  comrade,  among  intellectual 
men,  he  was  both  loved  and  admired, — because  his 
nature  was  noble,  his  heart  was  kind,  his  taste  was 
pure,  his  mind  was  rich,  and  his  manners  were  gentle. 
It  was  a  pleasure  to  know  him,  and  the  remembrance 
of  him  lingers  sweetly  in  the  recollection  of  a  few 
old  friends. 


220    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

"TRUE    TO    THE    CORE." 

On  August  18  H.  J.  Byron's  comedy  of  "The 
Upper  Crust"  was  played  at  the  Baldwin,  in  con 
junction  with  the  burlesque  opera  of  "Little  Amy 
Robsart,"  and  that  double  bill  held  the  stage  for  a 
fortnight.  During  that  time  Belasco  completed  an 
adaptation  of  the  "prize  drama"  by  T.  P.  Cooke, 
entitled  "True  to  the  Core,"— first  acted  at  the 
Bowery  Theatre,  New  York,  December  17,  1866. 
It  had  been  seen  in  San  Francisco  twelve  years 
earlier,  in  its  original  form.  I  have  been  able  to  find 
only  a  mutilated  programme  of  the  performance  of 
Belasco's  version,  August  30,  1880,  which  gives  part 
of  the  cast  as  follows : 

Truegold   James  O'Neill. 

Geoffrey  Danger  field .Frederic  de  Belleville. 

Lord  High  Admiral  of  England. ...... ....... .A.  D.  Bradley. 

Marah    ...... Adelaide   Stanhope. 

Mabel  Truegold .... v Lillian  Andrews. 

Queen  Elizabeth Eva  West. 

"True  to  the  Core"  is  an  old-fashioned  melodrama, 
of  which  the  hero,  Truegold,  is  an  English  pilot  who 
passes  through  many  "moving  accidents  by  flood  and 
field,"  being  seized  by  treasonous  conspirators,  placed 
on  board  a  vessel  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  which  he 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     221 

pilots  upon  a  rock,  instead  of  into  Portsmouth  Har 
bor,  and  who  is  in  danger,  subsequently,  of  losing 
his  head  on  the  block  rather  than  break  his  word,  but 
who  is  followed,  served,  and  ultimately  saved  by  a 
gypsy  woman,  Mar  ah,  whom  he  has  befriended.  It 
was  played  for  one  week  to  audiences  of  fair  size 
and  was  succeeded,  in  order,  by  William  G.  Wills' 
"Ninon," — acted  September  6,  for  the  first  time  in 
America, — "Aladdin  Number  Two;  or,  The  Won 
derful  Scamp,"  "Forget  Me  Not,"  Bartley  Camp 
bell's  "The  Galley  Slave,"  the  same  author's 
"Fairfax,"  and  "Golden  Game," — all  produced  under 
Belasco's  care,  and  all,  unhappily,  performed  to 
lessening  receipts. 

The  next  incident  of  note  at  the  Baldwin  was  the 
coming  of  William  E.  Sheridan,  who  opened  there 
November  15,  playing  King  Louis  the,  Eleventh,  and 
whose  advent  brought  back  a  measure  of  prosperity 
to  the  theatre.  Belasco,  in  his  "Story,"  records  this 
remembrance  and  estimate  of  Sheridan: 

A    STERLING    ACTOR    AND    AN  INTERESTING 
ESTIMATE:— WILLIAM    E.    SHERIDAN. 

"We  were  sadly  in  need  of  an  attraction  at  this 
time,  and  so,  when  W.  E.  Sheridan  arrived,  from 
Philadelphia,  which  city  pointed  to  him  with  much 
just  pride,  we  engaged  him  at  a  nominal  salary, 


222     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

and  immediately  he  soared  into  popularity,  being 
acclaimed  one  of  the  most  versatile  actors  who  had 
ever  visited  the  Coast.  Three  times  his  engagement 
was  extended,  for  the  people  of  San  Francisco  were 
loath  to  let  him  depart.  His  Othello  was  a  scholarly 
performance;  'A  New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts' 
increased  his  popularity,  as  did  also  'The  Fool's 
Revenge,'  'The  Lyons  Mail,'  and  Shylock.  He  was 
essentially  a  virile  actor,  forceful  and  with  a  mag 
netic  voice  that  was  music  in  the  ear.  And  I  have 
seen  many  a  Louis  the  Eleventh,  but  he  was  the 
greatest  of  them  all,  not  even  excepting  that  wonder 
ful  genius,  Sir  Henry  Irving.  Success  found  him 
greatly  astonished,  for  when  he  left  Philadelphia  he 
was  practically  unknown  to  any  but  his  townspeople, 
and  now  when  his  name  was  heralded  abroad,  the 
East  listened  with  a  certain  curiosity.  As  we  played 
to  crowded  houses  and  the  applause  floated  to  his 
dressing-room,  he  could  scarcely  credit  this  sudden 
fame  which  had  fallen  upon  him.  More  than  once 
Sheridan  turned  to  me  and  said:  'I've  found  it  all 
out  now  when  it  is  too  late.' " 

Belasco's  estimate  of  Sheridan  is  interesting  and 
it  should  be  preserved — because  it  is  Belasco's:  the 
opinion  of  the  foremost  stage  manager  of  his  time, 
about  any  actor,  should  be  of  interest.  It  would, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     223 

however,  be  far  more  instructive  and  valuable. if  the 
reasons  for  it  were  also  given:  but  in  a  long  experi 
ence  I  have  found  few  commentators  on  acting  who 
give  reasons  for  their  declared  opinions.  Why 
Sheridan  should  have  felt  that  he  had  "found  it  all 
out  when  it  was  too  late"  passes  my  understanding, — 
because,  in  1880,  he  was  in  the  very  prime  of  life, 
forty  years  of  age;  contrary  to  Belasco's  impression, 
he  was  well  known  throughout  our  country,  and, 
moreover,  he  continued  to  be  abundantly  successful 
for  more  than  six  years  after  his  initial  appearance 
in  San  Francisco.  He  was  a  sterling  actor  and  richly 
deserved  success.  I  knew  him  and  liked  him  much. 
He  took  up  "King  Louis  XI."  because  of  the 
immense  impression  created  by  Irving's  revival  of 
that  play  at  the  London  Lyceum,  March  9,  1878, 
and  he  gave  an  effective  and  admirable  performance 
in  it.  Nevertheless,  he  was  not,  in  my  judgment, 
even  for  a  moment  rightly  comparable  in  the  part 
with  Irving, — because  nowhere  in  his  embodiment 
of  Louis  did  he  reveal  even  an  approximate  of  the 
wonderful  personality,  the  indomitable  intellect,  the 
inerrant  apprehension  of  subtle  traits  of  complex 
character,  or  the  faculty  of  identification,  the  grim 
menace,  the  baleful  power,  the  grisly  humor,  or  the 
exquisite  felicity  of  expressive  art  with  which  Irving 
displayed  his  ideal  of  that  human  monster  of  cruelty 


224     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

and  guile.  Such  acting  as  that  of  Henry  Irving  in 
the  scene  of  King  Louis'  confessional,  the  scene  of  his 
paroxysm  of  maniacal  wrath,  the  scene  of  his  sup 
plication  for  life,  and  the  scene  of  his  august  and 
awful  death,  opens  the  depths  of  the  human  heart, 
lays  bare  the  possible  depravity  of  human  nature, 
depicts  a  great  character  in  such  a  way  as  to  illumine 
the  historic  page,  and  conveys  a  most  solemn  moni 
tion  on  the  conduct  of  life. 

During  his  first  engagement  in  San  Francisco 
Sheridan  acted  Rover,  in  "Wild  Oats";  Lesurques 
and  Dubosc,  in  "The  Lyons  Mail" ;  Claude  Melnotte, 
SJiylock,  Richelieu,  Othello,  Hamlet,  and  Sir  Giles 
Overreach,  in  "A  New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts." 
Laura  Don,  making  her  first  appearance  in  San 
Francisco,  November  24,  played  Lady  Amaranth  to 
his  Rover,  and  Julie  to  his  Lesurques:  Lillie  Edding- 
ton  played  Pauline,  Portia,  and  other  leading  female 
parts  with  him.  He  was  supported  by  "the  new 
Baldwin  Company,"  which  had  been  organized  just 
prior  to  his  coming  to  San  Francisco,  and  which  in 
cluded  Joseph  R.  Grismer  and  "Harry"  Colton.  All 
the  plays  were  produced  under  Belasco's  stage  man 
agement,  and  his  familiarity  with  them  and  his  in 
defatigable  zeal  in  rehearsals  made  his  assistance  in 
valuable  to  Sheridan.  That  actor  filled  several  sub 
sequent  engagements  in  San  Francisco,  and  his  acting 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    225 

so  vividly  impressed  Belasco  that  he  gave  public  imi 
tations  of  him  in  King  Louis  and  in  other  parts. 
Sheridan  served  in  the  Union  Army  during  the  Civil 
War  and  attained  to  the  rank  of  captain.  He  mar 
ried  the  actress  Louise  Davenport  (his  first  wife, 
Sarah  Hayes,  died  in  1872),  went  with  her  to  Aus 
tralia  in  1886,  and  died  there,  in  Sydney,  May  15, 
1887.  He  was  the  impersonator  of  Beamish  McCoul, 
in  "Arrah-na-Pogue,"  when  that  play  was  originally 
performed  in  America,  at  Niblo's  Garden,  New 
York,  July  12,  1865, — an  occasion  I  have  particular 
reason  to  remember  because  that  was  the  first  the 
atrical  performance  reviewed  by  me  for  "The  New 
York  Tribune." 

Of  Laura  Don,  with  whom  Belasco  became 
acquainted  at  the  time  of  Sheridan's  first  San  Fran 
cisco  engagement,  he  gives  this  recollection: 

LAURA    DON.— AN    UNFULFILLED    AMBITION. 

"Laura  Don  was  a  painter  whose  landscapes  and  por 
traits  had  won  her  distinction  in  the  art  world.  Indeed, 
she  was  quite  a  spoilt  child  of  the  Muses,  for  the  gods 
had  dowered  her  with  many  gifts.  Nature  had  been  kind 
to  her  in  every  way,  mentally  and  physically,  for  she  had 
a  face  and  figure  of  great  attractiveness;  her  every  move 
ment  was  serpentine  and  voluptuous.  This  was  further 
heightened  by  an  excitable  temperament,  keyed  to  the  high 
est  pitch,  and  I  never  saw  anyone  who  had  a  more  insatiable 
thirst  for  fame;  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  her  health  was 


226    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

on  the  verge  of  being  undermined.  I  saw  in  this  woman 
every  possibility  of  making  a  wonderful  Cleopatra,  and 
when  she  had  joined  the  Baldwin  Theatre  I  spent  many 
hours  after  performances  training  her  in  the  role  (sic). 
Then  one  Sunday  afternoon,  when  we  had  reached  the 
Death  Scene,  Laura  Don  fell  in  a  faint,  and  I  looked  down 
to  find  drops  of  blood  coming  from  her  mouth.  So  this 
was  the  reason  for  the  hectic  flush,  for  the  irresponsible 
moods  and  eccentricities!  When  she  came  to,  we  had 
removed  every  outward  sign  of  her  fatal  malady.  But 
Laura  Don  was  not  to  be  deceived.  Many  times  when  we 
had  been  working  together  she  would  exclaim,  'Why  is  it 
I  am  so  weak?  Why  is  it  I  do  not  gain  strength?'  For 
two  days  she  remained  in  her  room,  and  then  she  sent  for 
me  and  confessed  that  she  had  known  all  along  of  her  con 
sumptive  tendencies.  'I  shall  never  play  Cleopatra,'  she 
said ;  'you  must  find  someone  else  to  take  my  place.  I  sup 
pose  we  cannot  escape  the  fate  imposed  upon  us.  I  was 
born  a  butterfly  and  I  shall  die  one.  I've  fought  the  idea 
for  years,  and  I  have  been  conquered.  So  I  shall  go  East 
and  pass  the  time  as  well  as  I  may  until  the  end.  If  you 
are  anywhere  near  when  "it"  occurs,  send  me  a  few  violets 
in  memory  of  those  you  have  always  kept  on  the  rehearsal 
table.'  Soon  after  her  arrival  in  the  East  came  her  tragic 
death,  so  that  it  was  not  very  long  before  I  had  to  send 
the  flowers." 

Laura  Don's  true  name  was  Anna  Laura  Fish. 
She  was  the  first  wife  of  the  theatrical  agent  and 
manager  Thomas  B.  McDonough.  She  afterward 
married  a  photographer,  resident  in  Troy,  New 
York,  whose  name  I  have  forgotten.  She  lived  for 


DAVID    BELASCO    AS    KING    LOUIS    THE    ELEVENTH 


iph   by  Houaeworth,   San   Francisco, 
loaned   by    Mrs.    David    BeJasco. 


,  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

1  '     '  :       nied.     T  --»w  in  this  woman 
V  of  m  patra,   and 

;oined  t  <t  many 

per f orman  i  r61e   (  sic  ) . 

Sunday  :»ed    the 

e,  Laur*  ooked  down 

to  find  drops  of  blood  coming  from  h  So  this 

was  :»:son  for  the  hectic  ffash,  f-  :>onsible 

eccentricities!     When    she   came    to,    we    had 
rem«  outward   sign   of  her  fatal  malady.     But 

Laura  Don  was  not  to  be  deceived.     Many  times  when  we 

her  she  would  exclaim,  'Why  is  it 

la  to  not  gain  strength?'     For 

two  -;ent 'for 

>n  all  e  con- 

she 
I  sup- 
I  was 
the  idea 
(?o  East 
nd.     If  you 
ae  a  few  violets 

<*e  always  kept  on  the  rehearsal 

val  in  the  East  came  her  tragic 

long  before  I  had  to  send 


ime  w  .aura  Fish, 

ical  agent  and 

.  McP  She  afterward 

oenrapher,  Troy,    New 

t  HKeTO  for 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    227 

about  six  years  after  Belasco  met  her.  On  Septem 
ber  6,  1882,  at  the  Standard  Theatre,  New  York, 
she  produced  a  play  called  "A  Daughter  of  the 
Nile,"  written  by  herself,  and  appeared  in  it  as  a 
star.  The  principal  person  in  it,  a  female  named 
Egypt,  is  supposed  to  be  of  Egyptian  origin:  the 
subject,  however,  is  American  and  modern.  Miss 
Don  never  acted  Cleopatra.  She  died,  suddenly,  at 
Greenwich,  New  York,  February  10, 1886. 

Sheridan's  engagement  at  the  Baldwin  terminated 
December  28,  and  the  next  night  the  well-known 
English  melodrama  of  "The  World,"  by  Paul  Mer- 
ritt,  Henry  Pettitt,  and  Augustus  Harris,  was  per 
formed  there,  for  the  first  time  in  America.  ( Several 
years  later,  after  Belasco  had  become  established  in 
New  York,  he  was  employed  by  Charles  Frohman 
to  make  a  revival  of  this  play,  which  had  been  intro 
duced  to  our  Stage  under  his  direction,  in  New 
Orleans.)  On  January  10,  1881,  a  drama  called 
"The  Eviction,"  depicting  some  aspects  of  the  land 
lord  and  tenant  disturbances  then  rife  in  Ireland, 
was  brought  out  and  filled  one  week.  On  January 
17  it  was  succeeded  by  a  play  called  "Wedded  by 
Fate,"  the  joint  work  of  Edward  Captain  Field  and 
Henry  B.  McDowell,  son  of  General  Irvin  Mc 
Dowell.  The  younger  McDowell,  possessed  of 
wealth,  proposed,  through  Belasco,  to  subsidize  a 


228    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

production  of  their  play  in  order  to  get  it  before  the 
public,  and  Maguire,  pressed  for  money,  eagerly 
assented  to  that  arrangement.  Belasco,  recalling  the 
incident  of  bringing  forth  "Wedded  by  Fate"  and 
the  peculiarities  of  its  principal  author,  writes  thus: 

"An  instance  of  the  casual  devotee  of  the  Theatre  was 
young  McDowell,  son  of  the  famous  Union  general.  Our 
first  interview  was  most  amusing.  I  remember  how  he  stut- 
terred:  'I  s-s-should  1-1-like  to  b-be  an  a-a-a-actor,'  he  said, 
with  difficulty.  He  also,  in  common  with  many  others, 
believed  that  he  could  write  a  successful  play  and  agreed 
that  if  I  produced  something  of  his  very  own  he  would  finance 
it  and  would  guarantee  a  certain  bonus.  His  first  effort — 
'I  forget  the  name  of  it — cost  him  a  trifle  of  a  fortune, 
but  inasmuch  as  it  was  a  local  play  by  a  local  author 
people  flocked  to  see  it.  When  I  met  him  years  after 
wards  in  New  York  he  was  still  obsessed  by  the  theatrical 
bee,  from  which  he  never  recovered.  With  Franklin  Sar 
gent  he  opened  The  Theatre  of  Arts  and  Letters  and  lost 
a  fortune.  If  I  had  not  been,  at  the  time,  under  con 
tract  to  the  Lyceum  Theatre  I  should  have  joined  McDowell 
in  that  undertaking." 

The  period  from  January  to  July,  1881,  exhibits 
nothing  of  particular  moment  concerning  Belasco, 
though,  as  usual,  he  was  hard  at  work  throughout  it. 
"Wedded  by  Fate"  gave  place  to  a  revival,  February 
1,  of  Daly's  version  of  "Leah  the  Forsaken,"  made 
to  introduce  to  the  Stage  a  novice,  Miss  Clara  Stuart, 
who  paid  for  the  privilege  of  appearing  and  whose 


,THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     229 

money,  like  that  of  the  extravagant  McDowell,  was 
welcome  to  the  distressed  Maguire.  Beginning  on 
February  9,  George  Darrell,  an  actor  from  Australia, 
— with  whom  Belasco  had  been  associated  in  con 
junction  with  Laura  Alberta,  at  Grey's  Opera 
House,  in  1873, — acted  at  the  Baldwin  for  several 
weeks.  During  McDowell's  season  and  for  several 
weeks  subsequent  thereto  part  of  the  Baldwin  stock 
company  performed  in  towns  of  the  interior, — 
Belasco  dividing  his  time  between  San  Francisco, 
where  he  assisted  Darrell,  and  the  Baldwin  company, 
"on  the  road."  Darrell  opened  in  "Back  from  the 
Grave,"  a  play  dealing  with  the  important,  neglected, 
and  often  misrepresented  subject  of  spiritualism 
(that  actor  was,  or,  at  least,  bore  the  reputation  of 
being,  a  hypnotist  and  a  student  of  occult  matters). 
This  was  followed  on  the  21st  by  "Four  Fates,"  and, 
on  the  25th,  by  "Transported  for  Life."  John  P. 
Smith  and  William  A.  Mestayer  played  at  the  Bald 
win  for  three  weeks,  beginning  April  11,  in  "The 
Tourists  in  a  Pullman  Palace  Car";  Kate  Claxton, 
supported  by  Charles  Stevenson  and  making  her  first 
appearance  in  San  Francisco,  presented  "The  Two 
Orphans"  there  for  two  weeks,  opening  on  May  9; 
and  the  company  of  Jarrett  &  Rice,  in  "Fun  on  the 
Bristol,"  played  there  from  May  30  to  June  9,  after 
which  date  the  theatre  was  closed  until  July  4.  It 


230    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEL  AS  CO 

was  then  reopened,  under  the  temporary  manage 
ment  of  J.  H.  Young,  with  A.  D.  Bradley  as  stage 
manager,  and  a  few  performances  of  "Emancipa 
tion"  were  given  by  The  Pierreponts.  Belasco,  how 
ever,  appears  to  have  been  occupied  chiefly  with  his 
own  affairs  from  April  to  July. 

"LA    BELLE    RUSSE." 

Even  before  Belasco  had  been  reinstalled  as  stage 
manager  at  the  Baldwin  Theatre  he  had  resumed 
planning  another  campaign  of  adventure  to  gain 
acceptance  and  position  in  New  York,  and  that 
purpose  was  ever  present  in  his  mind  during  the 
year  that  followed  his  return  from  the  Eastern  vent 
ure  with  the  Hernes  in  "Hearts  of  Oak."  He  had 
set  his  heart  on  a  success  in  the  leading  theatre  of 
the  country,  Wallack's,  and  he  resolutely  addressed 
himself  to  its  achievement.  Maguire  had  come  to 
depend  more  and  more  on  Belasco,  in  the  labor  of 
keeping  the  Baldwin  Theatre  open  and  solvent,  and 
to  him  the  ambitious  dramatist  presently  turned  with 
his  plans  for  a  play  to  be  called  "La  Belle  Russe." 
"I  felt  that  I  had  a  play  which  would  suit  Wallack's 
company,"  he  said,  "and  that,  if  I  could  get  some 
of  his  actors  to  appear  in  it,  Wallack  would  soon 
hear  of  it,  and  the  task  of  getting  a  New  York 
hearing  would  be  much  simplified.  Jeffreys-Lewis 


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THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     231 

was  then  in  San  Francisco,  and  I  stipulated  with 
Maguire  that  he  should  engage  her  for  me,  and 
also  Osmond  Tearle  and  Gerald  Eyre,  from  Wai- 
lack's;  John  Jennings,  from  the  Union  Square,  and 
Clara  Walters,  who  was  then  acting  in  Salt  Lake 
City."  Maguire  agreed  to  do  this,  the  engagements 
were  made,  and  Belasco  earnestly  addressed  himself 
to  the  completion  of  his  play,  which  was  accom 
plished  in  six  weeks.  Meantime  Tearle  ended  his 
engagement  in  New  York  (at  Wallack's  Theatre, 
July  2)  and,  with  other  members  of  the  Wallack 
company,  went  at  once  to  San  Francisco,  where 
rehearsals  of  the  new  play  were  immediately  begun. 
Belasco's  "La  Belle  Russe"  was  originally  entitled 
"Violette."  He  chanced  to  read  the  phrase  "la 
belle  Russe"  on  a  wind-blown  fragment  of  news 
paper,  was  pleased  by  it,  and  adopted  it  as  a  better 
title.  The  play  is  a  fabric  of  theatrically  effective 
but  incredible  situations,  and  it  is  founded  on  two 
other  plays,  well  known  to  him, — both  of  them  hav 
ing  been  acted  in  San  Francisco,  under  his  man 
agement, — namely,  "Forget  Me  Not,"  by  Herman 
Merivale  and  Charles  Groves,  and  "The  New  Mag 
dalen,"  by  Wilkie  Collins:  the  version  produced 
under  Belasco's  direction  was  a  piratical  one  made 
by  James  H.  LeRoy.  La  belle  Russe  is  a  beautiful 
but  vicious  Englishwoman,  named  Beatrice  Glan- 


232     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

dore,  daughter  of  a  clergyman.  She  has  sunk,  by 
a  facile  process  of  social  decline,  until  she  has  become 
a  decoy  for  a  gambling  house,  where,  pretending  to 
be  a  Russian,  she  is  known  to  its  frequenters  by  the 
sobriquet  which  gives  the  play  its  name.  She  has  a 
virtuous  twin  sister,  Geraldine,  so  like  her  in  appear 
ance  that  they  are,  practically,  indistinguishable.  La 
belle  Russe  has  infatuated  a  young  Englishman, 
Captain  Brand  (known  at  the  time  by  the  name  of 
Captain  Jules  Clopin)9  with  whom  she  has  lived, 
whom  she  has  robbed,  abandoned,  and  finally  shot, 
believing  herself  to  have  killed  him.  Geraldine, 
meantime,  has  married  a  young  Englishman  of  great 
expectations,  Sir  Philip  Calthorpe,  who  is  repudiated 
by  his  mother  and  other  relatives  because  of  his  mar 
riage,  whereupon,  in  financial  straits,  though  repre 
sented  as  loving  his  wife,  Calthorpe  deserts  her, 
enlists  in  the  Army,  and  disappears. 

After  the  lapse  of  a  considerable  period,  Calthorpe 
being  reported  as  dead,  Lady  Elizabeth  Calthorpe, 
his  mother,  experiences  a  change  of  heart,  and  adver 
tises  for  information  about  his  widow.  Beatrice, 
la  belle  Russe,,  poor  and  resident  in  Italy,  hears  of 
this  inquiry  and,  believing  her  twin  sister  to  be  dead, 
determines  to  present  herself  in  the  assumed  person 
of  Geraldine,  as  the  widow  of  Calthorpe,  and  thus 
to  obtain  for  herself  and  her  young  daughter  (of 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     233 

whom  Brand  is  the  father)  a  luxurious  home  and 
an  enviable  social  station.  In  this  fraud  she  par 
tially  succeeds,  being  accepted  as  Calthorpe's  widow 
by  both  Lady  Elizabeth  and  her  family  lawyer, 
Monroe  Quilton,  who  evince  a  confiding  acquiescence 
singularly  characteristic  of  proud  old  English  aris 
tocrats  and  their  astute  legal  advisers.  Almost  in 
the  moment  of  her  success,  however,  Sir  Philip 
having  come  from  Australia,  she  finds  herself 
installed  not  as  his  widow  but  as  his  wife, — and  also 
she  finds  that  Sir  Philip  is  accompanied  by  her 
former  companion,  Captain  Brand,  those  wanderers 
having  met  in  Australian  wilds  and  become  close 
friends.  Philip  is  sure  she  is  his  wife  and  gladly 
accepts  her  as  such.  Brand,,  on  the  contrary, 
promptly  identifies  the  spurious  Geraldine  as 
Beatrice,  and,  privately,  demands  that  she  abandon 
her  fraudulent  position.  This  she  refuses  to  do, 
defying  Brand  to  oust  her  from  the  newly  acquired 
affections  of  Calthorpe  and  his  mother, — and  thus, 
practically,  the  situation  is  created  wherein  Stephanie 
de  Mohrivart  defies  Sir  Horace  Welby,  in  the  play 
of  "Forget  Me  Not."  Beatrice,  having  made  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  poison  Brand,  in  order  to 
remove  all  obstacles  and  maintain  her  place,  is  finally 
defeated  and  driven  to  confession  and  surrender 
when  that  inexorable  antagonist  reveals  to  her  not 


234    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

an  avenging  Corsican  (the  dread  apparition  which 
overwhelms  Stephanie),  but  the  approaching  figure 
of  her  twin  sister,  the  true  Geraldine  and  the  actual 
wife  of  Calthorpe, — who,  also,  is  conveniently  resur 
rected  for  the  family  reunion. 

Aside  from  the  impossibility  of  most  of  these 
occurrences, — a  defect  which  is  measurably  lessened 
by  Belasco's  deft  treatment  of  them, — and  also  from 
the  blemish  of  intricacy  in  the  substructure  of  the 
plot,  "La  Belle  Russe"  is  an  effective  play,  of  the 
society-melodrama  order, — the  action  of  it  being 
free  and  cumulative,  the  characters  well  drawn,  and 
the  interest  sustained.  It  contains  an  interesting 
exposition  of  monstrous  feminine  wickedness,  and 
stimulates  thought  upon  the  infatuation  that  can 
be  caused  by  seductive  physical  beauty,  and  it  sug 
gests  the  singular  spectacle  of  baffled  depravity 
stumbling  among  its  attempted  self -justifications, — 
Beatrice,  of  course,  entering  various  verbal  pleas  in 
extenuation  which,  accepted,  would  establish  her 
as  a  victim  of  ruthless  society  instead  of  her  own 
unbridled  tendencies.  The  play  possesses,  likewise, 
the  practical  advantages  of  a  small  cast,  implicating 
only  nine  persons  and  requiring  for  its  display  only 
three  simple  sets  of  scenery.  The  San  Francisco 
production  of  it  was  abundantly  successful,  Miss 
Jeffreys-Lewis,  who  had  previously  won  high  praise 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     235 

by  performances  of  Stephanie  de  Mohrivart,  and 
also  of  the  Countess  Zicka,  in  "Diplomacy,"  being 
specially  commended,  one  observer  declaring  that, 
though  her  performances  of  those  parts  were  good 
examples  of  the  acting  required  in  the  tense  dramatic 
situations  of  a  duel  of  keen  wits,  "her  Geraldine 
[Beatrice^  Glandore  is  more  varied,  more  vivid, 
more  intense,  and  generally  powerful.  Her  mobile 
face  took  on  every  shade  of  expression  that  the 
human  face  can  wear,  and  perhaps  not  the  least 
natural  was  the  open,  artless,  sunny  countenance 
which  quickly  won  Sir  Philip's  love."  Tearle  as 
Captain  Brand  and  Gerald  Eyre  as  Calthorpe  were 
almost  equally  admired,  and  the  play  had  a  pros 
perous  career  of  two  weeks, — which,  in  San  Fran 
cisco  at  that  time,  was  substantial  testimony  to  its 
popularity.  Belasco  writes  this  account  of  the 
production: 

"San  Francisco,  like  all  other  cities,  was  not  over-anxious 
to  welcome  the  product  of  one  of  her  sons.  There  was 
much  more  drawing  power  in  something  of  foreign  author 
ship.  .  .  .  Knowing  that  the  critics  would  welcome  any 
thing  from  France,  and  knowing  how  hypercritical  some  of 
the  writers  of  the  press  were  becoming  of  my  own  efforts, 
'La  Belle  Russe'  was  announced  as  being  by  a  French  author. 
The  programme  for  the  opening  announced  that  the  drama 
was  from  the  French.  However,  Maguire  had  posters  ready 
to  placard  the  town,  were  'La  Belle  Russe'  a  success.  This 


236    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

time  the  name  of  David  Belasco  was  blazoned  forth  in  the 
blackest  type.  And  it  all  worked  as  I  had  devised.  The 
play  met  with  instant  success,  and  on  the  morning  after, 
when  the  critics  had  come  out  in  columns  of  praise  for  such 
technique  as  the  French  usually  showed,  on  their  down 
ward  travel  to  the  offices  they  were  faced  with  the  startling 
announcement  that  the  anonymous  author  was  none  other 
than  David  Belasco." 

The  first  presentment  of  "La  Belle  Russe"  was 
made  at  the  Baldwin  Theatre,  to  mark  "the  inaugu 
ration  of  the  regular  dramatic  season"  there,  on  July 
18,  1881.  During  the  rehearsals  of  it  Tearle  had 
several  times  spoken  to  Belasco,  signifying  doubt 
about  the  "French  origin"  of  the  play  and,  finally, 
remarking  that  Belasco  showed  an  astonishing  famil 
iarity  with  every  word  and  detail  of  the  drama. 
"Well,  whatever  you  may  think,"  Belasco  assured 
him,  "please  believe  you  are  mistaken  and  say  noth 
ing  about  it — just  now."  His  wishes  were  observed: 
one  contemporary  comment  on  the  day  before  its 
production  remarks  that  "of  the  play  little  seems 
to  be  known.  It  is  said  to  resemble  'Forget  Me 
Not.'  The  actors  say  it  is  strong."  The  first 
announcement  I  have  been  able  to  find  of  the  actual 
authorship  is  in  a  newspaper  of  July  26,  1881,  where 
it  is  advertised  as  "The  strongest  play  of  modern 
times,  'La  Belle  Russe,'  by  D.  Belasco,  author  of 
'Hearts  of  Oak.'  "  After  all  question  of  the  accept- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     237 

ance  of  his  play  was  ended  and  his  authorship 
acknowledged  Belasco  asked  Tearle  to  inform  Lester 
Wallack  about  it,  "if  he  thought  well  enough  of  the 
play  to  feel  justified  in  doing  so."  "Oh,"  answered 
Tearle,  "I've  done  that  long  ago;  I  telegraphed  to 
him  after  the  first  performance:  it  will  be  just  the 
thing  for  Rose  Coghlan."  Thus  Belasco  felt  he 
was  in  a  fair  way  to  accomplish  his  purpose  of  secur 
ing  a  New  York  opening.  This  was  the  original 
cast  of  "La  Belle  Russe": 

Captain  Dudley  Brand ,. ... ... ...  ...Osmond  Tearle. 

Sir  Philip  Calthorpe Gerald  Eyre. 

Monroe  Quilton,  Esq John  W.  Jennings. 

Rignold  Henderson  (Supt.  of  Police)  .  .    . . .  .E.  H.  Holden. 

Roberts , J.  McCormack. 

Barton. ...... Edgar  Wilton. 

Beatrice  Glandore  (Geraldine)  .  . Jeffreys-Lewis. 

Lady  Elizabeth  Calthorpe Jean  Clara  Walters. 

Elise Edith  Livingston. 

Little  Beatrice Maude  Adams. 

"THE    STRANGLERS    OF    PARIS." 

"La  Belle  Russe"  received  its  final  performance 
at  the  Baldwin  Theatre  on  Saturday  evening,  July 
30.  On  August  1  "Adolph  Challet"  was  produced 
there,  under  Belasco's  direction,  and  on  August  8 
a  revival  of  "Diplomacy"  was  effected,  Tearle  acting 
Henry  Beauclerc,  Gerald  Eyre  Julian,  and  Miss 


238     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Jeffreys-Lewis  the  Countess  Zicka.  It  had  been 
intended  to  divide  the  week  between  "Diplomacy" 
and  "Camille,"  but  "to  my  delight,"  Belasco  said, 
"the  former  was  strong  enough  to  fill  the  whole  week 
and  I  could  give  all  the  time  to  final  preparation 
of  my  new  play."  That  new  play  was  a  dramatic 
epitome  of  "The  Stranglers  of  Paris"  ("Les  fetran- 
gleurs  de  Paris"),  by  Adolphe  Belot,  for  the  pro 
duction  of  which  much  effort  had  already  been  made. 
It  was  modestly  announced  by  Maguire  (who,  I 
surmise,  did  not  thereby  greatly  distress  Belasco) 
as  "The  great  dramatic  event  of  the  nineteenth  cen 
tury,"  and  it  was  brought  out  on  August  15. 
Belasco's  name  was  not  made  known  as  that  of  the 
adapter.  This  play  is,  in  fact,  an  extravagant  and, 
in  some  respects,  a  repulsive  sensation  melodrama. 
The  story  relates  some  of  the  experiences  of  an  intel 
lectual  pervert  named  Jag  on,,  a  huge  hunchback,  of 
remarkable  muscular  strength,  especially  in  the 
digits,  resident  in  Paris,  and  gaining  a  livelihood  for 
himself  and  a  cherished  daughter  (whom  he  keeps 
in  ignorance  of  her  actual  relationship  to  himself) 
by  the  gentle  art  of  strangling  persons  in  order  to 
rob  them.  A  specially  barbarous  murder  is  com 
mitted  by  Jagon  and  an  accomplice  named  Lorenz, — 
an  ex-convict  who  has  ingratiated  himself  with  the 
daughter,  Maihilde,  and  who  marries  her.  Jagon  and 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    230 

an  innocent  man,  Blanchard,  are  arrested,  tried  for 
this  crime,  and  sentenced  to  transportation  to  New 
Caledonia.  The  convict-ship  bearing  them  to  that 
destination  is  wrecked  and  they  escape  together  upon 
a  raft  and  return  to  Paris.  Mathilde,  having  discov 
ered  the  criminality  of  her  husband,  frees  her  mind 
on  that  subject  with  such  pungency  that  Lorenz 
is  moved  to  practise  upon  her  the  professional  dex 
terity  learned  from  her  revered  father  and  promptly 
chokes  her  to  death.  Jagon  arrives  at  this  juncture, 
attended  by  police  officers,  denounces  Lorenz  to 
them  as  his  actual  accomplice  in  the  crime  for  which 
Elanchard  has  been  convicted  with  him,  and  then, 
in  the  manner  of  Robert  Maccdre  in  somewhat  simi 
lar  circumstances,  being  determined  to  escape  the 
guillotine,  leaps  through  a  convenient  window,  thus 
giving  the  police  an  opportunity,  which  they  improve, 
of  shooting  him  to  death.  The  play  is  immensely 
inferior  to  the  story  upon  parts  of  which  it  is  based, 
but  it  serves  its  purpose  as  a  "shocker."  The  escape 
of  the  two  convicts  on  the  raft  at  sea  provides  an 
effective  scene,  not  the  less  so  because  of  its  resem 
blance  to  a  similar  scene  in  the  earlier  melodrama 
of  "The  World":  the  expedient,  however,  was  an 
old  one  long  before  "The  World"  was  produced: 
it  is  employed  with  great  skill  and  effect  in  Reade's 
fine  novel  of  "The  Simpleton."  Belasco's  mature 


240    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEL  AS  CO 


opinion  of  this  play  of  his  has  been  recorded  in  four 
words  which  cover  the  case:  "What  buncombe  it 
was!"  A  notably  good  performance  was  given  in 
it  by  Osmond  Tearle  as  Jagon — a  part  which  he 
expressed  himself  to  the  dramatist  as  delighted  to 
undertake  as  a  relief  from  acting  the  repressed 
"leads"  to  which  he  had  for  some  time  been  restricted. 
It  ran  for  two  weeks.  This  was  the  original  cast : 

Jagon. . .  —  .,. .  ......*.  -.«•  •* ••  •  -  -Osmond  Tearle. 

Joseph  Blanchard . Gerald  Eyre. 

Robert  de  Meillant. .,. . .... ..-.-. .  .Joseph  R.  Grismer. 

Lorenz ... ..•.., ...*.>. . .-.,.. .  .Max  Freeman. 

Captain  Jules  GuMn Walter  Leman. 

Mons.  Claude . .  .,.>.. ...... ..... A.  D.  Bradley. 

Bontout. .,. . . ..... .,.,. .» ..... ., John  W.  Jennings. 

Papin.  . . . ., ... .-. Charles   Norris. 

Dr.  Fordien J.  P.  Wade. 

Mons.  Vitel.i. . ....... .... .-., George  McCormack. 

Mons.  Xavier . ., ,.  .E.  N.  Thayer. 

Governor  of  Prison. , George  Galloway. 


Longstalot 
Gregoire 
Jacquot 
Cab  ass  a 
Pierre 

Zaldbut 

Lamazon 
Zorges 
Jacques  - 


-  Convicts, 


R.  G.  Marsh. 

Logan  Paul. 

G.  L.  May 

John  Torrence. 

G.  McCord. 

-  J.   Higgins. 
Charles  Robertson. 

•  G.  Holden. 
S.  Chapman. 


Commander  of  Prison  Ship /. ... . . . .:. W.  T.  Day. 

First  Lieutenant. . E.  N.  Neuman. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    241 

Second  Lieutenant. E.  Webster. 

First  Marine .>. . . . . ., ,. . . . . . .  J.  Sherwood. 

Mathilde .Jeffreys  Lewis. 

Jeanne  Guerin. . .,. .,. . . . . ... .......... . . . .  .Ethel  Arden. 

Sophie  Blanchard .  .Jean  Clara  Walters. 

Zoe  Lacassade Mrs.  Elizabeth  Saunders. 

La  Grande  Florine Eva  West. 

"The  Stranglers "  was  superbly  mounted,  it 
delighted  the  public  for  which  it  was  intended,  and 
was  played  for  two  weeks,  attracting  large  and 
enthusiastically  demonstrative  audiences. 

NEW  YORK  AGAIN.— "LA  BELLE  RUSSE"  AT 
WALLACE'S. 

Maguire,  because  he  had  produced  Belasco's  play 
of  "La  Belle  Russe"  at  the  Baldwin  and  had  thereby 
profited,  appears  to  have  considered  that  also  he 
had  thereby  acquired  a  property  in  it.  To  this  claim 
the  necessitous  dramatist  assented  (making,  I  sup 
pose,  a  virtue  of  necessity),  giving  Maguire  a  half- 
interest.  Maguire  then  decreed  that  they  should  go 
to  New  York  together,  in  order  to  place  the  play 
with  Wallack,  if  that  should  prove  the  most 
expedient  arrangement,  or  to  place  it  with  any  other 
manager  from  whom  it  might  be  possible  to  exact 
higher  payment.  Belasco  consented  to  negotiate 
with  other  managers  and  ascertain  what  terms  might 
be  offered,  "even  though,"  he  said,  "I  had  determined 


242    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

that  none  but  Wallack  sHould  produce  it."  On  Sep 
tember  25,  1881,  they  left  San  Francisco  together 
and  came  to  New  York. 

According  to  Belasco's  statement  to  me,  Augustin 
Daly  wanted  the  play  of  "La  Belle  Russe"  for  Ada 
Rehan  (to  whom  the  central  part  would  have  been 
peculiarly  unfitted),  while  A.  M.  Palmer  wanted  it 
for  Miss  Jeffreys-Lewis,  at  the  Union  Square,  and 
John  Stetson  wanted  it  for  Marie  Prescott.  Belasco 
had  interviews  with  all  of  them,  and  with  Wallack. 
His  determination  that  Wallack  should  produce  his 
play,  if  he  possibly  could  arrange  to  have  him  do 
so,  was  intensified  by  the  kindness  of  Wallack's  man 
ner  toward  the  young  author  and  by  the  strong 
impression  made  upon  him  by  that  actor's  pictorial 
and  winning  personality.  Maguire,  meantime,  con 
sorted  with  Stetson,  a  person  naturally  congenial 
to  him,  and  presently  became  insistent  that  the  play 
should  be  intrusted  to  that  manager.  "After  I  had 
read  the  play  to  Stetson  in  his  office  (which  I  did 
very  unwillingly),"  Belasco  told  me,  "the  two  of 
them  threatened  me  with  all  sorts  of  consequences 
if  I  did  not  turn  the  manuscript  over  to  Stetson, 
and  I  really  believe  they  would  have  taken  it  from 
me  by  force  if  I  had  not  buttoned  it  under  my  coat 
and  bolted  out  of  the  office!"  This  pair  of  pilgrims 
had  then  been  for  some  time  in  New  York,  and 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     243 

Maguire,  by  agreement,  had  been  paying  Belasco's 
living  expenses;  now,  by  way  of  practical  intimation 
that  his  will  must  prevail  and  the  play  be  relin 
quished  to  Stetson,  he  stopped  doing  so.  This  left 
Belasco  in  a  familiar  but  not  the  less  painful 
plight — stranded — and  it  also  incensed  him  against 
Maguire. 

At  this  juncture,  when  unfortunately  he  was  impe 
cunious,  indignant,  and  excited,  he  received  a  visit 
from  Maguire's  nephew,  Mr.  Frank  L.  Goodwin, 
with  whom  he  had  already  negotiated  relative  to 
"La  Belle  Russe,"  and  whom  he  now  supposed  to 
have  come  to  him  as  Wallack's  representative.  To 
this  person  he  imprudently  made  known  his  quarrel 
with  Maguire,  and  hastily  inquired,  "What  will  you 
give  me  for  the  play?"  "Fifteen  hundred  dollars, 
cash,"  Goodwin  answered,  and  then,  observing  that 
he  hesitated,  "and  a  return  ticket  to  San  Francisco, 
and  $100  more  for  your  expenses."  "How  soon  can 
I  have  the  money?"  Belasco  rejoined.  "In  half  an 
hour."  "Then  I'll  take  it"— and  he  did,  selling  his 
play,  outright,  not,  as  he  supposed,  to  Wallack,  but 
to  Goodwin,  for  $1,600  cash  and  a  railroad  ticket 
home!  He  received  the  money  the  same  afternoon 
and  left  that  night  for  San  Francisco.  When  the 
play  was  produced  at  Wallack's  it  was  announced  as 
"By  arrangement  with  Mr.  F.  L.  Goodwin,  the  pro- 


244     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEL  AS  CO 

duction  of  a  new  and  powerful  drama  by  David 
Belasco,  Esq."  Wallack  paid  Goodwin  a  high  price 
for  the  play,  which,  since  then,  has  been  successfully 
acted  throughout  the  English-speaking  world,  and, 
later,  when  told  of  the  facts  of  the  sale,  expressed 
his  profound  regret  and  dissatisfaction  that  Belasco 
had  not  dealt  directly  with  him.  Fifty  times  the 
amount  of  money  that  Belasco  received  for  "La  Belle 
Russe"  would  have  been  more  like  a  fair  payment  for 
it  than  the  sum  he  actually  received.  "I  did  not  par 
ticularly  care  what  Maguire  might  do,"  Belasco  told 
me,  "when  he  heard  about  the  matter.  I  felt  that 
I  could  get  along  much  better  without  him  than  he 
could  without  me  (I  always  did  for  Maguire  far 
more  than  ever  I  got  paid  for!),  but  he  cooled  off 
after  he  got  home,  and  I  resumed  work,  for  a  little 
while,  at  the  Baldwin." 

AN  OPINION  BY  BRONSON   HOWARD.-WALLACK   IN   THE 
THIRTIETH    STREET    HOUSE. 

Belasco's  published  recollections  of  the  circum 
stances  of  Wallack's  removal  from  the  Thirteenth 
Street  house  and  of  the  importance  to  that  manager 
of  his  presentation  of  "La  Belle  Russe"  require 
revision  to  make  them  accurate.  He  says : 

"The  stage  history  of  'La  Belle  Russe'  is  interesting. 
Wallack  had  opened  his  theatre  with  'Money,'  which  had 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     245 

been  followed  by  a  play  by  Finer o.  He  had  met  with  fail 
ure  all  along  the  road,  and  his  heart  began  to  question 
whether  he  was  right  in  forsaking  his  old  ground  on 
Thirteenth  Street  and  in  moving  so  far  up-town.  'La  Belle 
Russe,'  put  on  hurriedly,  as  a  last  forlorn  hope,  retrieved 
his  fortunes.  It  called  a  spade  a  spade  and  did  not  show 
any  reticence,  the  papers  declared,  and  they  flayed  it  as 
hard  as  ever  they  could.  There  was  one  exception,  and 
that  was  Edward  A.  Dithmar,  of  'The  New  York  Times.' 
He  said  it  was  a  new  era  among  plays,  and,  although  he 
was  not  a  prophet,  he  put  his  finger  on  the  elements  that 
achieved  success,  and  this  was  long  before  the  day  of 
'The  Second  Mrs.  Tanqueray.'  Bronson  Howard,  at  the 
height  of  his  success,  declared,  in  a  public  lecture,  that  it 
was  a  model  of  construction,  and  confessed  that  he  had 
already  seen  it  seventeen  times,  each  evening  discovering 
some  new  technical  excellence  in  it.  I  do  not  want  to 
appear  boastful ;  the  facts  of  the  theatre  are  no  longer  per 
sonal  after  they  have  been  made  known  to  the  public." 

Bronson  Howard  was  a  man  of  talent,  though  his 
plays  conclusively  show  that  it  was  not  of  a  high 
order  and  that  his  command  of  technical  resource 
in  dramatic  construction  was  not  remarkable:  he 
may  have  required  seventeen  inspections  of  the 
drama  in  order  to  perceive  its  many  practical  merits 
as  an  histrionic  vehicle:  most  experienced  observers 
could,  and  did,  discern  them  at  one  view.  Belasco's 
statements  with  regard  to  Wallack,  above  quoted, 
are  not  correct.  Wallack  did  not  open  his  Thirtieth 
Street  theatre  with  "Money":  he  opened  it,  January 


246     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

4,  1882,  with  "The  School  for  Scandal":  "Money" 
was  not  acted  at  that  theatre  till  March  23,  1888, — 
though  a  play  by  A.  W.  Finer o,  entitled  "The  Money 
Spinner,"  was  the  second  acted  there,  January  21, 
1882.  Wallack  had  not  "met  with  failure  all  along 
the  road."  He  closed  his  theatre  at  Thirteenth  Street 
with  a  presentation,  under  the  management  of 
Samuel  Colville,  of  the  English  melodrama  of  "The 
World,"  which  ran  there  from  April  11  to  July  2, 
1881,  receiving  eighty-four  performances,  and  which 
gained  gross  receipts  to  the  extent  of  about  $65,000 
(at  the  time,  when  prices  were  about  half  what  they 
are  now,  an  extraordinary  profit)  :  he  produced 
another  English  melodrama,  called  "Youth,"  at  his 
new  theatre,  February  20,  1882,  and  this  play  ran 
till  May  6:  "La  Belle  Russe"  was  produced  by 
Wallack  on  May  8,  and  it  ran  till  the  close  of 
the  season,  June  28.  The  presentment  of  it  there 
was  a  notably  handsome  one  and  was  distinctly 
successful.  Rose  Coghlan  was  specially  excellent 
in  her  evincement  of  agonizing  apprehension  beneath 
a  forced  assumption  of  calm,  and  by  the  denoted 
prevalence  of  an  indomitable  will  over  mental  terror. 
This  was  the  cast  at  Wallack's: 

Captam  Dudley  Brand. Osmond  Tearle. 

Sir  Philip  Calthorpe. ....... Gerald  Eyre. 

Monroe  Quilt  on,  Esq .....,...,.,.  .John  Gilbert. 


THE  LIFE  OF.  DAVID  BELASCO     247 

Roberts C.  E.  Edwin. 

Barton. .  . , H.  Holliday. 

Beatrice  (Geraldine) Rose  Coghlan. 

Lady  Elizabeth  Calthorpe. .  ...... . .  .,. .  . . Mme.  Ponisi. 

Little  Beatrice. . ............. .  .Mabel  Stephenson. 

Agnes Celia  Edgerton. 

Belasco  left  New  York  in  the  latter  part  of 
December,  1881,  and  he  arrived  in  San  Francisco 
on  Christmas  Day.  "Chispa,"  by  Clay  M.  Greene 
and  Slason  Thompson,  was  produced  at  the  Baldwin 
Theatre  on  December  26  and  it  ran  there  for  two 
weeks, — in  the  course  of  which  Maguire  returned 
home ;  the  differences  between  him  and  Belasco  were 
composed,  and  the  latter  was  presently  reinstalled 
in  his  familiar  place  at  the  Baldwin.  On  January 
16,  1882,  acting  Matthias,  in  "The  Bells,"  W.  E. 
Sheridan  began  a  season  there  which  lasted  for 
seven  weeks,  during  which  he  revived  "Richelieu," 
"Othello,"  "Hamlet,"  and  other  plays  of  the  legiti 
mate  repertory  which  he  had  previously  presented  in 
San  Francisco  (November-December,  1800),  and 
also  "King  John"  and  "The  Fool's  Revenge."  The 
last-named  tragedy  was  brought  out  on  March  3, 
the  first  performance  of  it  being  given  for  the  benefit 
of  Belasco's  old  friend  and  teacher,  Mrs.  "Nelly" 
Holbrook. 


248    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

BELASCO    AND    HIS    "THE    CURSE    OF    CAIN." 

Sheridan's  season  terminated  on  March  5,  and,  on 
the  7th,  occurred  the  first  performance  of  a  new  play 
constructed,  while  that  season  lasted,  by  Belasco  in 
collaboration  with  the  excellent  and  much  respected 
Peter  Robertson  (1847-1911),  long  dramatic  critic 
of  "The  San  Francisco  Chronicle."  It  was  called 
"The  Curse  of  Cain,"  and  its  more  active  author 
has  written  of  it  as  follows: 

"Strange  as  it  may  appear,  Cain  was  my  hero.  Abel  had 
never  appealed  to  me,  any  more  than  his  forebears,  in  the 
garden  of  the  bright  flaming  sword,  whence  the  apple-eating 
Eve  had  been  so  forcibly,  ejected.  'The  Curse  of  Cain'  in 
embryo  was  a  simple  trifle  of  an  allegory,  which  afterwards 
developed  into  a  four-act  drama  with  prologue  and  epilogue. 
And  now  that  I  look  back  upon  it  I  think  it  was  somewhat 
remarkable  for  strange  innovations  to  the  stage  of  that  day. 
For  the  first  time  realistic  thunderstorms  and  lightning 
effects  were  introduced,  more  naturally  than  anything  that 
had  gone  before.  I  do  not  wish  to  pooh-pooh  modern  in 
ventions,  double  stages,  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  the 
latter-day  drama,  but  I  do  contend  that  we  could  not  have 
been  outdone." 

It  will  not,  I  think,  appear  "strange"  to  most  per 
sons  that  to  Belasco,  as  a  dramatist,  the  character 
of  Cain  should  be  more  attractive  than  that  of  Abel. 
It  is,  I  know,  sometimes  asserted  that  evil  is  merely 
the  absence  of  good  and  a  passive  state.  But  that 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     249 

assertion  is  untrue.  Why  evil  should  exist  at  all  is 
a  mystery.  But  that  it  does  exist  and  that,  existing, 
it  is  a  positive,  active  force  which  supplies  the  pro 
pulsive  dramatic  movement  of  most  great  repre 
sentative  plays,— of  "Othello,"  "Hamlet,"  "King 
Richard  III.,"  and  "Macbeth,"  for  example, — is 
obvious.  Many  of  the  great  poets  have  felt  this  and 
exhibited  it  in  their  poetry.  Mephistopheles  is  the 
dominant  figure  and  the  animating  impulse  of 
Goethe's  "Faust"  and  of  Bailey's  "Festus,"  and 
that  is  true,  likewise,  of  Satan,  in  Milton's  "Para 
dise  Lost."  Cain  is  the  exponent  of  evil  in  the  Bible 
narrative,  the  active,  dramatic  figure — and  Cain, 
not  Abel,  accordingly  engaged  the  attention  of 
Byron,  in  one  of  his  greatest  poems,  and  of  Cole 
ridge,  in  a  fragment  on  the  same  subject.  Belasco's 
declared  preference,  as  a  dramatist,  seems  to  me 
to  be  an  inevitable  one.  There  is  not,  however,  much 
relevancy  in  the  expression  of  it  as  regards  his  play 
of  "The  Curse  of  Cain."  That  fabric  does  not 
relate  to  the  Bible  narrative:  it  is  a  melodrama,  of 
the  period  in  which  it  was  written,  which  tells,  in 
an  artificial  but  momentarily  effective  and  divert 
ing  manner,  a  conventional  tale  of  good  and  evil 
in  conflict, — of  crime  long  unpunished  and  honor 
much  abused;  of  prosperous  villainy  and  persecuted 
innocence  borne  down  under  a  false  accusation  of 


250     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

murder;  of  harsh  suffering  in  gypsy  camps  and 
prison  cells,  and,  finally,  of  the  vindication  of  virtue 
and  retributive  justice  overtaking  the  transgressor. 
It  was  avowedly  fashioned  on  the  model  of  such 
earlier  plays  as  "The  World"  (which  Belasco  had 
successfully  set  upon  the  stage  fourteen  months 
before),  "The  Lights  o'  London,"  "Mankind"  and 
"Youth,"  and  it  was  devised  for  the  purpose  of  mak 
ing  lavish  scenic  display  and  startling  theatrical 
effects,  in  the  hope  of  winning  back  public  support 
for  the  Baldwin.  That  purpose  though  not  that 
hope  was  fulfilled,  all  contemporary  commentators, 
in  effect,  agreeing  with  the  published  declaration 
that  "never  before  in  San  Francisco  has  there  been 
such  a  liberal  and  beautiful  display  of  scenery  as 
that  provided  for  this  play."  "The  Curse  of  Cain" 
was  divided  into  seven  acts,  all  of  which  were  richly 
framed,  and  four  of  which, — Waterloo  Bridge,  Lon 
don,  during  a  snowstorm;  a  Gypsy  Camp,  in  rural 
England;  a  Ruined  Abbey,  and  "the  Whirlpool 
Lighthouse," — were  affirmed  "marvels  of  stage 
painting  and  effect."  In  the  scene  of  the  Gypsy 
Camp  Belasco  indulged  to  the  full  his  liking  for 
literalism, — providing  for  the  public  edification  a 
braying  donkey,  neighing  horses,  cackling  hens, 
crowing  cocks,  quacking  ducks,  and  a  rooting,  grunt 
ing  pig.  In  the  Lighthouse  Scene,  as  one  account 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     251 

relates,  having  assembled  his  dramatis  personce  for 
the  final  curtain  by  the  novel  yet  simple  expedient 
of  "washing  them  all  up  from  the  ocean,"  after  a 
shipwreck,  like  flotsam,  he  introduced  a  frantic 
struggle  between  the  villain  and  the  hero,  beginning 
on  the  wave-beaten  rocks,  conducted  up  a  spiral 
stairway  within  the  lighthouse  and  intermittently 
visible  through  the  windows  thereof,  and  terminating 
in  the  fall  of  the  villain  from  the  pinnacle  of  that 
edifice  to  a  watery  grave, — with  which  fitting  demise, 
and  the  union  of  lovers,  the  spectacle  drew  sweetly 
to  a  close.  "The  critics,"  writes  Belasco,  "had 
plenty  of  fun  with  the  absurdities  of  the  piece 
(which  hardly  needed  to  be  pointed  out),  and  I  had 
many  a  good  laugh  at  it  myself;  but,  for  all  that, 
it  was  the  most  elaborate  scenic  production  of  the 
kind  ever  made  in  the  West,  and  the  people  who 
came  to  see  it  went  wild  over  it.  The  only  trouble 
was  not  enough  of  'em  could  be  induced  to  come  1 " 
"The  Curse  of  Cain"  was  acted  from  March  7 
to  18,  except  on  the  evenings  of  the  8th  and  15th, 
when  Frederick  Haase  acted  at  the  Baldwin.  J.  B. 
Dickson,  of  Brooks  &  Dickson,  who  saw  the  play 
there,  purchased  the  right  to  produce  it  in  the  East, 
in  English,  and  Gustav  Amberg  (then  in  San  Fran 
cisco  as  manager  of  the  Geistinger  Opera  Company) 
arranged  to  bring  out  a  German  version  of  it  at  the 


252     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Thalia  Theater,  New  York, — but  I  have  not  found 
that  either  of  those  managers  ever  presented  it.  A 
fragmentary  record  of  the  original  cast,  which  is 
all  that  diligent  research  has  discovered,  shows  Mrs. 
Saunders  and  Ada  D'Aves  as  members  of  the  com 
pany  and  signifies  that  the  chief  characters  were 
allotted  thus: 

Sir  Rupert  Treloar. .Joseph  R.  Grismer. 

Ashcroft Harry  Colton. 

Tom  Gray,  "The  Idiot" % George  Osborne. 

Joan  Gray . . . Jean  Clara  Walters. 

Alice  Gray. . . . Phoebe  Davis. 

On  March  15  Osborne  superseded  Colton  as  Ash- 
croft,, — his  place,  as  Tom  Gray,  being  taken  by 
Joseph  W.  Francoeur. 

THE    PASSING    OF    MAGUIRE. 

Maguire's  control  of  the  Baldwin  Theatre  and 
Belasco's  career  in  San  Francisco  were  now  draw 
ing  toward  an  end.  The  Geistinger  Opera  Com 
pany  came  to  the  Baldwin  for  a  few  days,  when 
"The  Curse  of  Cain"  was  withdrawn:  "The  Great 
Divorce  Case"  was  acted  there  March  30:  then  came 
Haase,  in  "Hamlet,"  "The  Gamester,"  and  other 
old  plays,  which  were  performed  by  him  "to  a  beg 
garly  array  of  empty  benches":  and,  on  April  11, 
the  Italian  tragedian  Ernesto  Rossi  (1829-1896) 


Photograph   by   (Houseman?). 


Belasco's  Collection. 


THOMAS  MAGUIRE 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     253 

emerged  in  his  supremely  repulsive  perversion  of 
Shakespeare's  Othello:  Rossi  acted  in  association 
with  Louise  Muldener  and  he  played  at  the  Baldwin 
for  one  week, — closing  with  "Edmund  Kean." 
Attendance  throughout  his  engagement  was  paltry 
— the  treasury  was  empty — neither  Baldwin  nor 
anybody  else  would  advance  more  money  to  Maguire 
— and  the  end  had  come.  To  Belasco  it  came  as  a 
relief.  "The  last  year  or  so  at  the  Baldwin,"  he 
has  declared  to  me,  "was  a  good  deal  of  a  night 
mare.  Although  Maguire  and  I  had  our  differ 
ences,  I  liked  him,  I  pitied  him,  and  I  stuck  to  him 
till  the  end.  But  my  salary  and  my  royalties  were 
often  unpaid:  we  had  much  trouble  with  our  actors, 
so  that  sometimes  I  had  to  bring  in  amateurs  who 
wanted  experience  and  would  play  for  nothing,  or, 
sometimes,  even  pay  for  an  opportunity  to  go  on! 
I  not  only  was  stage  manager,  but  I  painted  scenery, 
played  parts  when  we  were  left  in  the  lurch,  helped 
in  the  front  of  the  house,  attended  to  the  advertis 
ing,  and  even  borrowed  money  for  Maguire,  when 
ever  I  could.  But  the  Rossi  engagement  was  the 
last  straw.  Baldwin's  lawyer  notified  Maguire  that 
the  theatre  was  up  for  lease — and  I  was  glad  when 
it  was  all  over." 


254     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

BELASCO  AND  GUSTAVE  FROHMAN.— THEY  REVIVE 
"THE  OCTOROON." 

Nobody,  however,  seems  to  have  been  eager  to 
rush  in  where  so  many  others  had  recently  failed, 
and  the  Baldwin,  except  for  a  couple  of  benefits 
|(the  first,  a  performance  of  "Chispa,"  May  18, 
given  for  Phoebe  Davis,  under  direction  of  J.  R. 
Grismer;  the  second,  given  May  27,  a  revival  of 
"The  New  Magdalen,"  for  the  public  favorite  Mrs. 
Judah),  remained  closed  for  about  two  months. 
During  that  period  Gustave  Frohman,  the  eldest  of 
three  brothers  influentially  associated  with  the 
American  Stage,  came  to  San  Francisco,  as  repre 
sentative  of  the  proprietors  of  the  New  York  Madi 
son  Square  Theatre,  in  charge  of  a  company  headed 
by  Charles  Walter  Couldock  and  Effie  Ellsler,  pre 
senting  "Hazel  Kirke."  With  Gustave  Frohman 
Belasco  immediately  formed  a  friendly  acquaintance 
which  vitally  affected  his  subsequent  career.  "Hazel 
Kirke"  was  brought  forward  at  the  California  The 
atre  on  May  30 — and  even  before  that  presentment 
had  been  made  Belasco  had  suggested  to  Frohman 
another  venture.  This  was  a  "sensation  revival"  of 
the  old  play  of  "The  Octoroon."  Calender's  Col 
ored  Minstrels  had  just  concluded  an  engagement 
at  Emerson's  Standard  Theatre,  and  it  was  part  of 
Belasco 's  scheme  to  employ  that  negro  company  and 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    255 

make  use  of  it  as  auxiliary  to  performance  of 
Boucicault's  play.  Gustave  Frohman  acceded  to 
Belasco's  suggestion,  arranged  for  the  proposed 
appearance  of  Callender's  Minstrels,  leased  the 
Baldwin  Theatre,  and  there  revived  "The  Octo 
roon,"  on  June  12,  at  low  prices, — twenty-five  to 
seventy-five  cents.  This  shrewdly  conceived  enter 
prise  was,  because  of  Belasco's  felicitous  treatment 
of  old  material  and  his  skilful  direction  of  the 
players,  an  instant  popular  success.  A  contempo 
raneous  commentator  writes  about  it  as  follows: 

"The  present  management  has  engaged  the  best  profes 
sional  talent  the  city  affords,  and  has  put  it  under  the 
direction  of  a  stage  manager  who  can  make  the  most  of  it. 
,.  .  .  Without  a  single  strong  feature  in  the  cast,  with 
possibly  the  exception  of  the  Wah-no-tee  of  George  Osborne, 
there  were  effects  introduced  which  give  more  than  their 
ordinary  interest  to  the  performance.  The  clever  pen  of 
Mr.  Belasco  had  evidently  elahoratepl  the  auction  scenes,  and 
the  scene  in  which  Salem  Scudder  saves  the  Indian  from  the 
mob.  ..." 

This  was  the  cast: 

Jacob  McClosk&y. . Harry  Colton. 

Salem  Scudder. Edward  Marble. 

Wah-no-tee .,.  .George  Osborne. 

George  Peyton.  .... ...%;.. . . . .- •.. W.  T.  Doyle. 

"Uncle"  Pete.  . ...... ,. Edward  Barrett. 

Mr.  Sunnyside . . .  .:.t... ... ... . ...... R.  G.  Marsh. 

Lafouche .1 , Mr.    Foster. 


256     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Paul i Kitty   Belmour. 

Ratts ... . Joseph  W.  Francoeur. 

Colonel  Poindexter Thomas  Gossman. 

Julius  Thibodeaux. . . . Logan  Paul. 

Judge  Caillou. . ..., ,. ....... George  Galloway. 

Jackson ,. .... . . ..... ., George  Stevens. 

Solon Mr.  Mclntosh. 

Zoe,  the  Octoroon. . . . . . . . . .Mrs.  F.  M.  Bates. 

Dora  Sunnyside.  . . .(. . ,.«!. ... . . ...,.-. .: Abbie  Pierce. 

Mrs.  Peyton. ................ ....... ...... .Jean  Clara  Walters. 

Grace Lillie  Owen. 

Dido , , Mrs.    Weston. 

Minnie Kate   Foust. 

In  making  this  revival  of  "The  Octoroon"  Belasco 
employed  the  "altered  and  retouched"  version  of  it, 
prepared  by  him,  which  had  been  acted  under  his 
direction  at  the  Baldwin  July  8,  1878, — still  further 
varying  and  expanding  several  scenes  of  the  original. 
The  most  popular  variety  features,  dances,  "spe 
cialties,"  and  songs  of  the  minstrel  show  were 
deftly  interwoven  with  the  fabric  of  the  drama,  being 
utilized  with  pleasing  effect  in  an  elaborate  repre 
sentation  of  the  slave  quarters  by  moonlight,  and  in 
the  first  and  fourth  scenes  of  the  Last  Act:  in  the 
latter  the  slaves  were  shown,  slowly  making  their 
way  homeward,  at  evening,  through  the  cotton  fields, 
singing  as  they  went,  and  the  result  was  extraor 
dinarily  picturesque  and  impressive.  More  than 
150  persons,  besides  the  actors  of  the  chief  char- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    257 

acters,  participated  in  the  performance,  and  the 
slave  sale  and  the  burning  of  the  river  steamboat 
Magnolia  were  portrayed  with  notable  semblance  of 
actuality.  Writing  to  me,  Belasco  says:  "I  used  a 
panorama,  painted  on  several  hundred  yards  of  can 
vas,  and  I  introduced  drops,  changing  scenes  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  showing,  alternately  and  in  quick 
succession,  pursued  and  pursuer, — Jacob  McCloskey 
and  the  Indian, — making  their  way  through  the 
canebrake  and  swamp,  and  ending  with  the  life  and 
death  struggle  and  the  killing  of  McCloskey.  I 
must  say  the  people  were  wildly  enthusiastic  and  I 
was  proud  of  the  whole  production.  I  thought  the 
acting  very  good." 

"AMERICAN    BORN." 

"The  Octoroon"  was  played  for  two  weeks  and 
then,  June  26,  gave  place  to  " Gary s wold,"  an  incon 
sequential  play  which  Belasco  tinkered, — introducing 
into  it  a  "Fire  Scene,  showing  the  destruction  of  a 
Mad-House,"  suggested  by  the  terrible  passage  in 
Reade's  "Hard  Cash,"  descriptive  of  the  burning  of 
an  asylum  for  the  insane  and  the  escape  of  Alfred 
Hardy.  Ada  Ward,  an  English  actress,  who  came 
from  Australia,  acted  the  principal  part  in  it. 

Gustave  Frohman's  lease  of  the  Baldwin  Theatre 
expired  on  July  1,  and  on  the  3rd  Jay  Rial,  having 


258    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

hired  the  house  for  a  week,  presented  "Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin"  there.  On  July  10  occurred  the  last  event 
of  the  first  period  of  Belasco's  theatrical  life, — the 
presentment  at  the  Baldwin  of  "American  Born." 
Edward  Marble,  an  actor  who  had  come  to  San 
Francisco  ,as  a  member  of  the  "Hazel  Kirke"  com 
pany,  was  advertised  as  lessee  of  the  theatre  and 
the  play  was  brought  out  under  the  auspices  of  Gus- 
tave  Frohman.  It  was  a  free  adaptation  by  Belasco 
of  "British  Born,"  by  Paul  Merritt  and  Henry  Pet- 
titt,  and  was  a  wild  and  whirling,  spread-eagle, 
bugle-blowing  melodrama,  in  which  the  heroine,  at 
a  climax  of  desperate  adventure,  saves  her  lover 
from  being  shot  to  death  by  Bolivian  soldiers  by 
wrapping  him  in  a  flag  of  the  United  States.  Its 
production  was  chiefly  remarkable  for  handsome 
scenic  investiture  and  a  really  impressive  portrayal 
of  a  volcano  in  furious  eruption.  This  was  the 
cast  of  "American  Born": 


IN    THE    PROLOGUE. 

Laban  Brood. .,. ... . . ... ..;... .... . .  John  W.  Jennings. 

George  Seymour i. ....... .Joseph  R.  Grismer. 

Fred  F aggies :. ...  .r. .......  .1 John  Dillon. 

'John  Hope . .  .A.  D.  Bradley. 

Captain  Jdbez  Dolman.  .\.  . .-.-... ...  .  .M*  A.  Kennedy. 

Constable. .  ., ... ... . . . .  .George  H.  McCormack. 

Messenger Edgar  Wilton. 


DAVID    BELASCO    AS    UNCLE    TOM,    IN 
"UNCLE    TOM'S    CABIN" 


holograph  by  Houseworth,   San   Francisco, 
riginal  loaned   by   Mrs.    David   Belasco. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

d  the  house  for  a  week,  pre  Uncle  Tom's 

there.    On  July  10  oc<:  last  event 

he  first  period  of  V  '  life,— the 

presentment  at  the  Baldwin  o  Born." 

Edward  Marble,  an  actor  wl  to.  San 

Francisco  .as  a  member  of  the  com 

pany,  was  advertised  as  lessee  of  the  theatre  and 
th<  *  as  brought  out  under  the  auspices  of  Gus- 

tax  It  was  a  free  adaptation  by  Belasco 

Of  7  Paul  Merritt  and  Henry  Pet- 

rag,   spread-eagle, 
nne,  a1 

Climax  of  her  lovei 

m  being  shot  to  death  by  Bolivian  soldiers  bj 

apping  him  in  a  flag  of  the  United  States.     It< 

n    was   chiefly   r  handsonw 

ture  and  a  re  e  portraya 

L     This  was  th- 
a  Bor- 


IN    THE    PROLOG? 

.  John  W.  Jenning! 
.  .  .Joseph  R.  G' 

.John  Dillo. 
\.  D.  Bradk 
T<.  A.  Kenned 
McCo 
ir  Wilt-* 


VAbi    3JOWU    2 

"HI8AD    8'MOT    3JDMU" 


n«R   .ritiow^nnoH  y.d 

hraofl        otW     orl     hananl     fprrra 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID,  BELASCO    259 

Mary  Hope ,. . .  .Ada  Ward. 

Nancy  Treat Ada  Gilman. 

IN    THE    DRAMA. 

Don  Andre  de  Calderone. George  Osborne. 

John  Hope A.  D.  Bradley. 

George  Seymour .  .  .Joseph  R.  Grismer. 

Fred  F aggies John  Dillon. 

Sylvester  (alias  Laban  Brood) John  W.  Jennings. 

Juddle  (alias  Captain  Dolman) M.  A.  Kennedy. 

Tom  Morris Joseph  W.  Francoeur. 

Jumbo George  H.  McCormack. 

Landro .- Edgar   Wilton. 

Mary  Hope.  .  . Ada  Ward. 

Nancy  Treat .Ada  Gilman. 

FIRST    MEETING    WITH    CHARLES    FROHMAN. 

Belasco  was,  during  one  period  of  his  life,  closely 
allied  to  Charles  Frohman.  Later,  after  Frohman 
had,  with  others,  formed  the  iniquitous  Theatrical 
Syndicate,  he  was,  for  many  years,  resolutely  and 
rightly,  antagonistic  to  him.  Age  and  change,  how 
ever,  sometimes  wear  out  antagonisms,  and  those 
estranged  friends  were  reconciled  not  long  before 
Frohman's  death  in  the  Lusitania  murder:  the  last 
production  made  by  Frohman  was  a  revival,  at  the 
Empire  Theatre,  New  York,  April  7,  1915,  in  asso 
ciation  with  Belasco,  of  "A  Celebrated  Case."  The 
first  meeting  of  those  managers  occurred  in  San 
Francisco,  while  Belasco  was  rehearsing  "American 


260     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Born."    He  has  made  this  record  of  that  significant 
incident: 

"Charles  Frohman  came  to  San  Francisco  at  the  head  of 
the  Haverley  Minstrels.  Gustave  Frohman  told  me  he 
thought  his  brother  and  I  should  meet.  The  artists  of  the 
town  had  a  rendezvous  at  a  Rathskeller  at  the  corner  of 
Kearny  and  Sutter  streets,  where  we  were  in  the  habit  of 
gathering  after  the  theatre.  Gustave  Frohman  and  I  were  at 
a  table,  when  he  exclaimed :  'There's  my  brother  Charlie !'  I 
looked  at  Charles,  our  eyes  met.  We  bowed.  That  was  our 
introduction.  We  never  had  a  formal  one,  Charles  Frohman 
and  I;  we  just  knew  each  other.  .  .  .  He  came  to  see 
'American  Born,'  was  favorably  impressed  by  it,  and  con 
ceived  the  idea  of  forming  a  company  and  taking  the  play 
East.  We  selected  Chicago  as  the  best  starting  point  for 
an  Eastern  tour  and  set  busily  to  work  to  organize  our  com 
pany  and  arrange  details  of  the  business." 

EASTWARD,    HO! 

While  Belasco  was  thus  busily  engaged  with 
preparation  for  the  presentment  in  Chicago  of  his 
drama  of  "American  Born,"  a  proposal  was  made 
to  him  by  Daniel  Frohman,  business  manager  of 
the  Madison  Square  Theatre,  New  York,  through 
his  brother,  Gustave  Frohman,  that  he  should  under 
take,  on  trial,  the  stage  management  of  that  theatre. 
The  opportunity  thus  offered  was  alluring,  and, 
having  ascertained  that  he  might  Improve  it  with 
out  detriment  to  his  purposed  venture  in  Chicago, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     261 

Belasco  determined  to  seek  once  more  for  the  suc 
cess  in  the  metropolis  of  the  country  which  had  long 
been  the  chief  object  of  his  ambition.  He  accepted 
the  proposal,  and  likewise  he  accepted  an  invitation 
to  work  his  way  eastward  as  stage  manager  of  the 
[Gustave]  Frohman  Dramatic  Company.  That 
company,  organized  in  San  Francisco,  included  Ada 
Ward,  "Virgie"  Emily,  Abbie  Pierce,  "Rellie" 
Davis,  "Jennie"  Lamont,  Charles  Wheatleigh,  M.  A. 
Kennedy,  John  Dillon,  George  Osborne,  "Harry" 
Colton,  W.  F.  Doyle,  Joseph  W.  Francoeur,  Logan 
Paul,  and  Hawley  Chapman.  It  left  San  Francisco, 
on  or  about  July  18,  1882,  to  perform  in  towns  and 
cities  of  Colorado,  and  on  July  31  began  an  engage 
ment  at  Denver,  where  it  played  for  two  weeks  dur 
ing  the  Industrial  and  Mining  Exposition  held  in 
that  city.  The  repertory  comprised  "The  Octoroon," 
"East  Lynne,"  "Mary  Warner,"  "Our  Boys," 
"Leah  the  Forsaken,"  "The  Woman  in  Red," 
"Arrah-na-Pogue,"  and  "American  Born." 

At,  apparently,  about  the  time  when  Maguire 
ceased  to  be  potent  in  San  Francisco  theatrical 
affairs  Belasco  received  a  personal  letter  from  F.  F. 
Mackaye  (himself  an  excellent  stage  manager  and 
a  severe  judge  of  achievement  in  that  vocation), 
which, — because  it  is  representative  of  the  advice  of 
several  friendly  admirers  in  the  same  period,  and 


262     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

because  it  had  some  influence  on  his  decision  to 
accept  the  Frohman  proposals, — may;  appropriately 
be  printed  here: 

(F.  F.  Mackaye  to  David  Belasco.) 

"Hotel,  Pike's  Peak, 
"Colorado  (date?  1881-82?). 
"My  dear  Belasco: — 

"I  fear  that  I  hardly  appreciated  you  fully  while  under 
your  direction  in  San  Francisco :  but  I  think  I  have  done  so 
since  we  have  been  here,  and  my  daily  toil  has  placed  me 

under  the  direction  of  Mr.  S .     He  seems  a  very  clever 

man.  Yet  his  lack  of  form,  of  constructive  direction,  is 
very  much  felt  by  one  who  has  had  the  pleasure  of  being 
under  your  direction  at  the  Baldwin.  I  sometimes  wonder 
why  you  have  stayed  so  long  in  the  West.  I  know  some 
people  who  have  been  there  all  their  lives  think  it  the  greatest 
place  in  the  world,  but  I  am  sure  that  if  you  were  to  go  to 
New  York,  which  is  really  the  centre  of  art  in  the  United 
States,  your  work  would  be  more  fully  recognized  and  appre 
ciated.  I  feel  that  a  man  of  your  progressive  mood  should 
not  be  content  to  remain  on  the  outside  of  the  world  when 
you  could  just  as  well  be  in  the  middle  of  it.  I  am  sure  that 
your  final  efforts,  or,  rather,  that  your  continuous  efforts 
should  be  made  in  the  city  of  New  York,  where  you  would 
be  rightly  appreciated. 

"I  wouldn't  say  one  word  in  disparagement  of  the  people 
of  San  Francisco:  they  have  treated  me  splendidly.  But  I 
tell  you  New  York  is  the  place,  and  I  have  had  long  ex 
perience.  I  began  this  profession  in  1851,  and  you  are  the 
first  director  that  I  have  met  in  that  time  and  felt  that  he 
really  loved  the  work  he  was  doing — and  we  know  very  well 
that,  however  much  a  man  may  know  about  any  art, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     263 

unless  he  loves  the  work  he  is  doing  there  is  always  a  lack 
of  interest  which  the  public  is  sure  to  detect.  Don't  for  one 
moment  think  that  I  try  to  flatter  you  by  these  remarks.  I 
say  these  things  because  I  love  the  Art  of  Acting  very  much, 
and  I  have  found  your  love  and  sympathy  for  it  so  great  that 
I  dearly  and  sincerely  admire  your  work.  Long  may  you 
live  to  continue  in  the  labor  which  is  always  good  for  the  art 
and  instructive  for  the  public ! 

"With  very  sincere  regards,  and  hoping  to  see  you  again, 
I  am, 

"Yours  very  sincerely, 

"F.  F.  Mackaye." 

***,*!*<* 

A    RETROSPECT. 

Belasco  was  only  twenty-nine  years  old  when  he 
brought  his  career  in  San  Francisco  to  an  end  and 
embarked  on  the  venture  which  was  at  last  to  estab 
lish  him  in  the  Theatre  of  New  York.  He  had  been 
eleven  years  on  the  stage.  A  brief  retrospect  and 
summary  of  his  early  achievement  will  be  useful 
here.  Throughout  his  life  he  had  enjoyed  the  bless 
ing  of  family  affection,  admiration,  and  sympathy, 
and  he  had  received  respectable  schooling.  Other 
wise,  his  experience  had  been  one  of  unremitting, 
strenuous,  often  anxious,  toil;  frequent  hardship, 
injustice,  disappointment, — in  short,  a  painfully 
laborious  struggle.  He  had  been,  in  childhood,  a 
circus  rider,  a  newsboy,  a  messenger,  a  willing,  help- 


264     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

ful  drudge,  a  shopboy  in  a  cigar  factory  and  in  a 
bookstore;  then,  as  he  grew  older,  a  scribbler  for 
the  newspapers,  a  salesman  of  haberdashery,  an 
itinerant  peddler,  a  strolling  player,  a  reader  and 
reciter,  a  mimic,  a  theatrical  manager,  an  agent  "in 
advance"  of  theatrical  companies,  a  teacher  of  act 
ing,  a  scene  painter,  a  stage  manager,  and  a  play 
wright.  He  had  seen  much  of  the  best  acting  of  his 
period  and  had  been  intimately  associated  with  many 
leaders  of  the  Stage, — sometimes  as  student  and 
assistant,  sometimes  as  adviser  and  director.  He 
had  acted,  in  all  sorts  of  circumstances  and  in  all 
sorts  of  places,  more  than  170  parts, — ranging  from 
mere  bits  to  characters  of  the  highest  and  most 
exacting  order.  He  had  altered,  adapted,  rewritten, 
or  written  more  than  100  plays  and  he  had  been  the 
responsible  director  in  the  production  of  more  than 
three  times  that  number.  A  catalogue  is  seldom 
interesting  reading;  nevertheless,  students  of  the 
Theatre  and  of  Belasco's  extraordinary  career  will 
do  well  to  ponder  the  following  significant  though 
incomplete  schedule  of  the  plays  set  upon  the  stage 
under  his  direction  prior  to  midsummer,  1882: 

"Agnes."  "Alphonse." 

"Aladdin    No.    2;    or,  The     "American  Born." 

Wonderful  Scamp."  "Amy  Robsart." 

"Alixe."  Apostate,"   "The. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    265 


"Arrah-na-Pogue." 
"Article  47." 

Assommoir,"  "IA 
"As  You  Like  It." 
"Aurora  Floyd." 

Ballad  Monger,"  "The. 

Belle  Russe,"  "La. 

Bells,"  "The. 
"Belphegor." 
"Bianca," 

"Black-Ey'd  Susan." 
"Bleak  House." 
"Blow  for  Blow." 

Bold    Stroke    for    a    Hus 
band,"  "A. 

Ball  in  a  China  Shop,"  "A. 
"Camille." 
"Caste." 

Celebrated  Case,"  "A. 
"Checkmate." 
"Cherry  and  Fair  Star." 

Child  of  the  Regiment, ""The. 
"Clouds  and  Sunshine." 
"Colleen  Bawn." 

Corsican   Brothers,"   "The. 
"Court  and  Stage." 
Cricket  on  the  Hearth,"  "The. 
1  Curse  of  Cain,"  "The. 
"Damon  and  Pythias." 
"David  Copperfield." 

Dead  Heart,"  "The. 
"Dearer  than  Life." 
"Diplomacy." 


"Divorce." 

Doll  Master,"  "The. 
"Dombey  &  Son." 
"Don  Caesar  de  Bazan." 
"Donna  Diana." 
"Dora." 

Duke's  Motto,"  "The. 
"East  Lynne."  ' 
"Edmund  Kean." 
"Elizabeth,    Queen    of   Eng 
land." 

Enchantress,"  "The. 
"Enoch  Arden." 

Eviction,"  "The. 
"False  Shame." 
"Fanchette." 

Fast  Family,"  "A. 
"Fire-Fly." 

Fool  of  the  Family,"  "The. 

Fool's  Revenge,"  "The. 
"Forget  Me  Not." 

Forty  Thieves,"  "The. 

French  Spy,"  "The. 
"Frou-Frou." 

Gamester,"  "The. 
"Green  Bushes." 

Green  Lanes  of  England," 

"The. 

"Guy  Mannering." 
"Hamlet." 

Happy  Pair,"  "A. 
"Hearts  of  Oak." 

Heir-at-Law,"   "The. 


266    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 


"Henry  Dunbar." 
"He  Would  and  He  Would 
Not!" 

Hidden  Hand,"  "The. 
"His  Last  Legs." 
"Home." 

Honeymoon,"  "The. 
"How  She  Loves  Him." 

Hunchback,"  "The. 
"Hunted  Down." 

Idiot    of    the    Mountains," 

"The. 

"Ingomar." 

"Ireland  and  America." 
"Ireland  as  It  Was." 
"Jack  Sheppard." 
"Jane  Eyre." 
"Jane  Shore." 

Jealous  Wife,"  "The. 
"Jessie  Brown;  or,  The  Re 
lief  of  Lucknow." 

Jibbenainosay,"  "The. 
"Jones'  Baby." 
"Julius  Csesar." 
"King  John." 
"King  Louis  XI." 
"King  Richard  III." 
"Lady  Audley's  Secret." 
"Lady  Madge." 

Lady  of  Lyons,"  "The. 
"Leah  the  Forsaken." 

Little  Detective,"  ".The. 
"Little  Katy." 


"Loan  of  a  Lover." 
"London  Assurance." 

Lone  Pine,"  "The. 
"Lost  in  London." 
"Love." 

Love  Chase,"  "The. 
"Love's  Sacrifice." 
"Loyal  Till  Death." 
"Lucretia  Borgia." 
"M'acbeth." 

Marble  Heart,"  "The. 
"Marie  Antoinette." 
"Mary  Stuart." 
"Masks  and  Faces." 

Merchant  of  Venice,"  "The. 

Millionaire's        Daughter," 

"The. 

"Miss  Multon." 
"Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peter  White." 
"Money." 

Moonlight  Marriage,"  "The. 
"Nan,    the    Good-for-Noth- 
ing." 

New  Babylon,"  "The. 

N«w  Magdalen,"  "The. 
"Nicholas  Nickleby." 
"Nita;    or,    Woman's    Con 
stancy." 
"Not  Guilty." 
"Notre  Dame." 

Octoroon,"  "The. 
"Oliver  Twist." 
"Olivia." 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    267 


"One   Hundred  Years  Old." 

"Othello." 

"Ours." 

"Out  at  Sea." 

Passion  Play,"  "The. 
"Paul  Arniff." 

Pearl  of  Savoy,"  "The. 

People's  Lawyer,"  "The. 

Pet     of     the     Petticoats," 

"The. 
"Pique." 

"Proof  Positive." 
"Pygmalion  and  Galatea." 

Regular  Fix,"  "A. 
"Richelieu." 
"Robert  Macaire." 
"Romeo  and  Juliet." 
"Rule   a  Wife   and   Have  a 

Wife." 
"Ruy  Bias." 
"Sarah's  Young  Man." 
"School." 

School  for  Scandal,"  "The. 

Scottish  Chiefs,"  "The. 

Scrap  of  Paper,"  "A. 
"Seraphine." 

Sheep  in  Wolf's  Clothing," 
"A. 


"She  Stoops  to  Conquer." 

Spectre  Bridegroom,"  "The. 

Stranger,"  "The. 

Stranglers  of  Paris,"  "The. 

Streets  of  New  York,"  "The. 
"Struck  Blind." 
"Sylvia's   Lovers." 

Ticket  -  of  -  Leave       Man," 
"The. 

Toodles,"  "The. 
"True  to  the  Core." 

Two  Orphans,"  "The. 
"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 
"Under  the  Gas-Light." 

Unequal  Match,"  "The. 

Uppercrust,"  "The. 
"Venice  Preserved." 

Wandering  Heir,"  "The. 
"War  to  the  Knife." 

Wicked  World,"  "The. 
"Wild  Oats." 

Willing  Hand,"  "The. 
"Within    an    Inch    of    His 
Life." 

Woman  in  Red,"  "The. 

Woman  of  the  People,"  "A. 
"Won  at  Last." 

Wonder,"  "The. 


Minute  exposition  of  all  the  early  dramatic  works 
of  Belasco  is  not  practicable;  a  succinct  estimate  of 
their  quality  will  suffice  here.  Crudity  is  often  obvi- 


268     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

ous  in  them — as  it  is  in  the  early  works  of  almost 
all  writers — and  it  sometimes  is  notably  visible  in 
the  sentiment  and  the  style.  Nevertheless,  they  dis 
play  the  operation  of  a  mind  naturally  prone  to  the 
dramatic  form  of  expression,  frequently  animated  by 
the  vitality  of  its  own  experience,  steadily  if  slowly 
growing  in  self-mastery  of  its  faculties,  and  at  once 
keenly  observant  of,  and  quickly  sympathetic  with, 
contrasted  aspects  of  life.  Along  with  defects, — 
namely,  perverse  preoccupation  with  non-essential 
details,  occasional  verbosity,  extravagant  premises, 
and  involved  construction, — they  exhibit  expert 
inventive  ability,  perspicacious  sense  of  character, 
acute  perception  of  strong  dramatic  climax,  the 
faculty  of  humor,  much  tenderness  of  heart,  wide 
knowledge  of  human  misery  and  human  joy,  special 
sympathy  with  woman,  and  the  skill  to  tell  a  story 
in  action.  Belasco's  dramatic  works,  before  he  left 
San  Francisco,  exceed  not  only  in  number  but  in 
merit  and  practical  utility  those  of  many  other 
writers  produced  as  the  whole  labor  of  a  long  life 
time,  and  the  basis  of  reputation  and  respect:  at 
least  two  of  his  early  plays — "Hearts  of  Oak"  and 
"La  Belle  Russe" — were,  even  before  he  came  to 
the  East,  gaining  fortunes — for  other  persons. 
And  for  a  long,  long  while  afterward  other  per 
sons  were  to  enjoy  the  chief  profit  of  his  labor:  it 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     269 

was  not  until  more  than  thirteen  years  later  that 
he  was  able  to  launch  a  successful  play,  —  "The 
Heart  of  Maryland,"  —  and  retain  personal  control 
of  it. 


A    SECOND    VENTURE    IN    CHICAGO.—  THE    LAST    OF 
"AMERICAN    BORN." 

Gustave  Frohman  (who  left  San  Francisco  on 
August  8,  1882,  to  join  his  brother  Charles,  in  Chi 
cago,  relative  to  a  consolidation  of  Callender's  and 
Haverley's  minstrel  shows)  appears  to  have  dis 
banded  his  dramatic  company  in  Denver.  At  any 
rate,  I  have  found  no  further  record  of  it,  and 
Belasco's  play  of  "American  Born"  was  successfully 
produced  at  the  Grand  Opera  House,  Chicago, 
apparently  under  the  joint  management  of  Gustave 
and  Charles  Frohman,  on  August  16. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain,  independently, 
whether  or  not  Charles  Frohman  travelled  to  the 
East  with  his  brother's  dramatic  company.  Accord 
ing  to  the  "Life  of  Charles  Frohman,"  that  manager 
left  San  Francisco  as  agent  for  Haverley's  Masto 
don  Minstrels  and  relinquished  his  position  in 
Indianapolis.  According  to  Belasco's  memory,  he 
and  Charles  Frohman  travelled  together  coming 
East  from  San  Francisco,  in  which  case  the  latter, 
probably,  was  business  agent  of  his  brother's  com- 


270     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

pany.  In  this  biograpHy  I  have  seldom  placed 
reliance  on  Belasco's  memory,  except  when  I  have 
verified  his  recollections  by  records  contemporary 
with  the  incidents  discussed, — because  I  have  found 
that  (as  he  has  several  times  testified  in  court)  he 
has  "no  head  for  dates."  In  this  matter,  how 
ever,  I  believe  that  his  remembrance  is  accurate. 
This  is  his  statement  of  the  facts  as  he  recalls 
them: 

"During  the  trip  to  Chicago,  where  I  was  to  halt  for  the 
first  performance  of  'American  Born'  at  Hamlin's  Opera 
House,  Charles  Frohman  and  I  became  fast  friends.  We 
instinctively  understood  each  other  as  though  we  had  been 
acquainted  for  years.  When  we  reached  Chicago  we  found 
that  Samuel  Colville  was  about  to  produce  Henry  Pettitt's 
'Taken  from  Life,'  at  McVicker's,  and  Charles  Frohman  was 
quick  to  see  that  there  would  be  great  rivalry  between  Col- 
ville's  production  and  ours.  A  point  in  our  favor  was  that 
the  people  at  McVicker's  were  no  more  ready  than  we.  The 
rival  play  was  to  exploit  scenery  made  from  English  models, 
and  the  advertising  announced  from  fifteen  to  twenty  big 
scenes.  We  saw  that  our  comparatively  modest  production 
would  not  do,  and  decided  to  improve  it,  working  night  and 
iday.  We  strengthened  our  company  by  engaging  George 
Clarke,  who  was  at  odds  with  Daly ;  'Harry'  Courtaine,  who 
was  passing  through  the  West,  and  Ada  Warde,  who  had 
just  returned  from  Australia.  The  race  to  see  which  would 
open  first  was  closely  contested.  By  a  shrewd  move  on  the 
part  of  {C.  F.'  our  play  was  announced  for  a  certain  evening ; 
then  we  worked  like  demons  to  give  it  three  nights  sooner. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     271 

In  this  way  we  were  ready  first.  Though  we  went  through 
the  first  night  without  any  serious  mishaps,  'Harry'  Cour- 
taine  was  taken  ill  in  the  Second  Act,  and  I  had  to  step  into 
his  part  myself.  But  we  had  a  great  success  and  astonished 
our  audience  with  twenty-one  scenes,  each  a  sensation ! 

"After  our  engagement  was  finished  inducements  came  to 
me  from  all  quarters  to  give  up  my  New  York  opportunity 
and  continue  with  'American  Born.'  I  knew  there  was  a 
fortune  in  the  play,  but  I  was  loath  to  come  East  with  the 
reputation  of  a  writer  and  producer  of  highly  sensational 
melodrama.  I  had  an  uneasy  feeling  that  it  would  hurt  me 
with  the  powers  at  the  Madison  Square.  Of  course  I  could 
have  kept  my  interest  in  'American  Born'  without  letting  my 
name  appear,  but  I  was  going  to  a  new  land,  practically  to 
begin  all  over  again,  and  I  wanted  to  enter  it  free  of  any 
possible  handicap.  So  I  took  the  claptrap  manuscript  and 
burned  it." 

Soon  after  making  that  fiery  purgation  Belasco 
left  Chicago  and  came  to  New  York  to  confront 
Daniel  Frohman  and  negotiate  concerning  employ 
ment  under  that  manager. 


THE    MADISON    SQUARE    THEATRE. 

The  Madison  Square  Theatre,  situated  on  the 
south  side  of  Twenty-fourth  Street,  a  little  way 
westward  from  Madison  Square  and  adjacent  to 
the  old  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  stood  on  the  site  of 
what  had  been  Daly's  first  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre, 


272     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEL  AS  CO 

opened  August  17,  1869,  and  burnt  down  January 
1,  1873.  That  site  had,  previous  to  1869,  been  for 
several  years  occupied  by  a  building,  erected  in 
the  Civil  War  time,  by  Amos  R.  Eno,  and  devoted 
to  public  amusements.  I  remember  it  as  once  the 
professional  abode  of  negro  minstrels,  and  again 
as  a  sort  of  vaudeville  theatre  conducted  by  a 
journalist,  then  well-known,  Thaddeus  W.  Meighan 
1(1821-18—).  In  1868  the  notorious  James  Fisk, 
Jr.,  acquired  control  of  it,  and,  in  a  much  improved 
condition,  it  was  opened,  January  25,  1869,  as 
Brougham's  Theatre,  and  such  it  continued  to  be 
until  the  following  April  3,  when  Fisk  summarily 
ousted  Brougham  and  presently  installed  a  com 
pany  of  French  performers  in  opera  bouffe,  headed 
by  Mile.  Irma.  A  few  weeks  later  Augustin  Daly 
obtained  a  lease  of  the  building  from  Fisk,  made 
extensive  alterations  in  it,  and  opened  it  as  the 
Fifth  Avenue  Theatre.  Some  time  after  its  destruc 
tion  by  fire,  in  1873,  it  was  rebuilt,  and  presently 
it  was  leased  by  James  Steele  Mackaye  (1842- 
1894),  an  actor  and  manager  of  rare  talent  and 
eccentric  character,  who  named  it  the  Madison 
Square  Theatre,  and  opened  it,  April  23,  1879,  with 
a  revival  (as  "Aftermath;  or,  Won  at  Last")  of 
his  play  which  had  originally  and  successfully  been 
produced,  as  "Won  at  Last,"  December  10,  1877, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     273 

at  Wallack's  Theatre.  Later,  Mackaye  formed  an 
association  with  the  Mallory  brothers, — the  Rev.  Dr. 
George  Mallory,  editor  of  an  ecclesiastical  news 
paper  called  "The  Churchman,"  and  Marshall  H. 
Mallory,  a  highly  energetic  and  enterprising  man 
of  business, — the  Mallorys  becoming  the  proprietors 
of  the  theatre  and  Mackaye  the  manager.  Under 
this  new  control  great  changes  were  made  in  the 
building;  the  auditorium  was  newly  and  richly  dec 
orated,  a  double  stage,  which  could  be  raised  and 
lowered,  thus  facilitating  changes  of  scene,  was 
introduced  (the  device  of  Mackaye),  on  a  plan 
somewhat  similar  to  that  which  had  been  success 
fully  adopted  ten  years  earlier  by  Edwin  Booth,  at 
Booth's  Theatre;  a  strong  dramatic  company  was 
organized,  and  on  February  4,  1880,  the  house  was 
opened,  with  a  drama  by  Mackaye,  called  "Hazel 
Kirke,"  a  rehash  of  an  earlier  play  by  him,  called 
"An  Iron  Will,"  which,  in  turn,  had  been  adapted 
from  a  French  drama. 

"Hazel  Kirke"  met  with  extraordinary  success, 
chiefly  because  of  the  superb  impersonation  of  its 
central  character,  Dunstan  Kirke ^  by  Charles  Wal 
ter  Couldock  (1815-1898).  It  was  acted  486  con 
secutive  times,  at  the  Madison  Square,  and  subse 
quently  it  was  performed  all  over  the  country. 
Couldock  withdrew  from  the  cast,  temporarily, 


274    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

after  the  200th  performance  in  New  York,  and 
Mackaye  succeeded  him.  The  run  of  "Hazel 
Kirke"  at  the  Madison  Square  terminated  on  May 
31,  1881,  and  on  June  1  it  was  succeeded  by  Will 
iam  Gillette's  farce  of  "The  Professor,"  which 
held  the  stage  till  October  29,  following,  when  it 
gave  place  to  a  play  called  "Esmeralda,"  by  Mrs. 
Frances  Hodgson  Burnett,  which  had  350  perform 
ances.  Meanwhile  Mackaye  had  become  dissatisfied 
with  his  position  and  had  determined  to  withdraw 
from  it.  His  contract  with  the  Mallorys,  as  he  told 
me  at  that  time  (for  I  knew  him  well  and  he  often 
talked  with  me  about  his  affairs),  had  been  heed 
lessly  made  and  largely  to  his  disadvantage.  Con 
tract  or  no  contract,  Mackaye  and  the  Mallorys 
could  not  have  long  remained  in  association  on  ami 
cable  terms,  because  they  were  as  antagonistic  as 
fire  and  water.  Mackaye  was  a  wayward  genius, 
of  poetic  temperament,  wildly  enthusiastic,  impet 
uous,  capricious,  volatile,  prone  to  extravagant  fan 
cies  and  bold  experiments,  and  completely  unsym 
pathetic  with  regulative,  Sunday-school  morality. 
The  Mallorys,  on  the  contrary,  were  shrewd,  prac 
tical  business  men,  in  no  way  visionary,  thoroughly 
conventional  in  character, — in  fact,  moral  mission 
aries,  intent  on  making  the  Theatre  a  sort  of  auxil 
iary  to  the  Church,  their  whole  scheme  of  theatrical 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     275 

management  being,  originally,  to  profit  by  the 
patronage  of  the  Christian  public.  Some  persons, 
like  some  things,  are  incompatible.  Mackaye 
resigned  and  withdrew  while  "Esmeralda"  was  still 
current,  and  thus  the  office  was  left  vacant  to  which 
David  Belasco  succeeded. 

BELASCO    AT    THE    MADISON    SQUARE. 

On  reaching  New  York  and  presenting  himself 
at  the  Madison  Square  Theatre  as  a  candidate  for 
the  office  of  stage  manager, — or,  as  it  is  now  often 
and  incorrectly  designated,  "producer," — Belasco 
was  subjected  to  minute  interrogation,  first  by 
Daniel  Frohman,  the  business  manager,  and  then 
by  both  the  Mallorys.  This  ordeal  appears  to  have 
been  rigorous,  but  it  was  satisfactorily  ended  and 
the  appointment  was  duly  made.  Belasco  remem 
bers  that,  after  a  long  conversation,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Mallory  remarked,  "I'm  glad  you  have  laid  such 
small  stress  on  the  melodramatic  emotions  of  life, 
for  here  we  are  trying  to  uphold  those  emotions 
which  are  common  to  us  in  our  daily  existence." 
By  what  means  the  candidate  contrived  to  convey 
that  impression  to  his  clerical  inquisitor  must  remain 
a  mystery,  because  in  all  Belasco's  views  of  dramatic 
composition,  and  in  all  his  contributions  to  it,  the 
most  prominent  and  obvious  fact  is  his  propensity 


276     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

to  melodrama, — meaning  the  drama  of  startling 
situation  and  striking  stage  effect.  Dion  Boueicault 
was  the  originator  and  the  denominator  of  "the  sen 
sation  drama,"  and  David  Belasco  has  been,  from  the 
first,  and  is  now,  a  conspicuously  representative 
exponent  of  it.  He  was  approved,  however,  he 
entered  at  once  on  the  performance  of  his  duties, 
and  thus  began  his  permanent  connection  with  the 
New  York  Stage. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  Belasco  decided  wisely 
when  he  accepted  the  office  of  stage  manager  of  the 
Madison  Square  Theatre,  under  the  Mallory  man 
agement.  His  play  of  "American  Born"  having 
succeeded  in  Chicago,  he  might  have  accumulated 
capital  from  its  success  and  from  other  resources, 
and  so  happily  escaped  from  an  association  which 
imposed  on  him  a  heavy  burden  of  exacting  labor, 
without  advantage  of  public  recognition,  and  with 
out  adequate  monetary  recompense.  He  believes, 
however,  that  his  acceptance  of  that  office  laid  the 
cornerstone  of  his  success.  Conjecture  now  is  use 
less.  He  did  accept  the  office,  and  he  held  it,  indus 
triously  and  honorably,  for  about  three  years.  The 
terms  of  his  contract  with  the  Mallorys,  as  he  has 
stated  them  to  me  (the  original  document,  I  under 
stand,  perished  in  the  San  Francisco  earthquake 
fire),  were,  in  my  judgment,  iniquitously  unjust 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     277 

to  him.  As  stage  manager  he  was  obligated  to 
render  all  his  services  to  the  Madison  Square  Thea 
tre  management, — that  is,  to  the  Mallorys.  His 
salary  was  $35  a  week  for  the  first  season,  $45  a 
week  for  the  second  season,  and  thereafter  to  be 
increased  in  the  same  proportion  the  third,  fourth, 
and  fifth  seasons.  The  contract  was  to  continue  in 
force  for  five  years,  unless  the  Mallorys  should 
become  dissatisfied.  The  Mallorys  further  acquired, 
by  the  terms  of  the  agreement,  a  first  option  on  any 
play  he  might  write  during  the  period  of  his  employ 
ment  by  them.  If  a  play  of  his  were  accepted  and 
produced  by  them  he  was  to  be  paid  $10  a  night, 
and  $5  for  each  matinee,  during  its  representation, — 
a  possible  $70  a  week.  Furthermore,  if  a  play,  or 
plays,  of  his  which  had  been  rejected  by  the  Mallorys 
should  be  accepted  and  produced  by  another  man 
agement,  Belasco  was  to  pay  to  the  Mallorys  one- 
half  of  all  royalties  he  might  receive  from  such  play 
or  plays.  In  Charles  Reade's  powerful  novel  "It's 
Never  Too  Late  to  Mend"  one  of  the  persons, 
expostulating  with  the  honest  old  Jew,  Isaac  Levi, 
who  has  declared  his  intention  to  leave  the  Austra 
lian  goldfields,  exclaims:  "But,  if  you  go,  who  is 
to  buy  our  gold-dust?"  To  this  inquiry  Levi 
replies,  "There  are  the  Christian  merchants";  where 
upon  the  other  earnestly  rejoins,  "Oh,  but  they 


278     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

are  such  damned  Jews!"  Perhaps  some  such 
thought  as  this  passed  through  the  mind  of  the  Jew 
Belasco  as  he  signed  his  bond  with  his  Christian 
employers.  He  has  been  successful  and  has  risen 
in  eminence,  but  his  experience  has  been  far  from 
tranquil, — has  been,  on  the  contrary,  one  of  much 
painful  vicissitude  and  many  hardships.  At  the 
Madison  Square  and  at  several  other  theatres  with 
which,  later,  he  became  associated  his  labors  were, 
for  a  long  time,  as  far  as  the  public  was  concerned, 
conducted  almost  entirely  under  the  surface.  He 
worked  hard,  his  industry  being  incessant,  and  it 
was  useful  to  many  persons,  but  his  name  was  sel 
dom  or  never  mentioned  in  public  or  in  print.  The 
managers  by  whom  he  was  employed,  while  utilizing 
his  talent,  may  almost  be  said  to  have  been  intent 
on  hindering  his  advancement, — that  is,  David 
Belasco,  as  stage  manager,  hack  dramatist,  and  gen 
eral  factotum,  would  be  far  more  useful  to  those 
persons  than  David  Belasco,  independent  and  rec 
ognized  dramatist  and  theatrical  manager,  could 
ever  be,  and  therefore  he  was  repressed:  the  terms, 
above  stated,  of  his  first  Madison  Square  Theatre 
contract  and  the  conditions  of  all  his  labor  during 
the  thirteen  years  or  so  succeeding  1882  disclose  his 
situation.  He,  nevertheless,  made  his  way,  slowly 
but  surely,  by  patient,  persistent  effort,  by  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     279 

repeated  manifestation  of  special  skill  in  stage  man 
agement,  by  felicity  as  a  mender  of  plays,  and  by 
good  judgment  in  the  assembling  of  companies  and 
the  casting  of  parts.  At  the  Madison  Square  Thea 
tre  he  was  materially  benefited  by  Bronson  How 
ard's  public  recognition  of  his  service  in  having,  with 
the  sanction  and  approval  of  that  author,  made 
minor  emendations  of  the  play  of  "Young  Mrs. 
Winthrop," — the  first  play  presented  there  under 
his  direction, — and  in  having  placed  it  on  the  stage 
in  a  correct,  tasteful,  and  effective  manner, — recog 
nition  expressed  in  terms  of  cordial  compliment,  on 
the  night  of  its  first  performance,  October  9,  1882. 
Among  the  plays  which  were  produced  at  the 
Madison  Square  Theatre,  under  Belasco's  efficient 
and  admirable  supervision,  subsequent  to  the  pre 
sentment  of  "Young  Mrs.  Winthrop,"  were  Mrs. 
Burton  N.  Harrison's  "A  Russian  Honeymoon," 
April  9,  1883;  William  Young's  "The  Rajah;  or, 
Wyndcot's  Ward,"  June  5,  1883;  Henry  C.  De 
Mille's  "Delmar's  Daughter," — which  failed, — 
December  10,  1883;  and  Hjalmar  Hjorth  Boye- 
sen's  "Alpine  Roses,"  January  31,  1884.  Mrs.  Har 
rison's  "A  Russian  Honeymoon,"  one  of  those  exot 
ics  that  bloom  in  select  society,  had  been  acted, 
in  private,  December,  1882,  by  amateurs,  prior 
to  its  exposure  to  the  profane  gaze, — the  ama- 


280     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

teur  company  including  Mrs.  Bradley  Martin,  Mrs. 
William  C.  Whitney,  Mrs.  August  Belmont,  and 
Mrs.  Cora  Urquhart  Potter, — and  thus  had  obtained 
social  patronage  which  was  specially  advantageous 
to  it  when  shown  in  the  theatre.  A  revival  of  "The 
Rajah"  occurred  on  December  17,  1888.  Boyesen's 
"Alpine  Roses"  ran  till  April  10,  1884.  Belasco's 
treatment  of  all  those  plays  redounded  to  his  credit, 
but  his  first  signal  personal  victory  ensued  on  the 
production  of  his  play  called  "May  Blossom," 
effected  April  12,  1884. 

"MAY    BLOSSOM." 

The  Mallorys,  he  has  told  me,  did  not  like  this 
play,  because  of  the  character  of  its  chief  male 
part,  did  not  wish  to  present  it,  and  did  so,  finally, 
with  reluctance,  after  strong  opposition,  and  only 
because  another  play  which  they  were  preparing 
to  produce  was  not  ready.  "May  Blossom"  pleased 
the  public  and  kept  its  place  on  the  Madison  Square 
stage  for  nearly  five  months.  The  100th  perform 
ance  of  it  occurred  on  July  21,  the  150th  on  Sep 
tember  9,  and,  on  September  27,  1884,  its  first 
run  was  ended:  it  is  included  in  French's  Miscel 
laneous  Drama,  being  No.  59, — but  the  version  of 
it  there  published  is  not  the  authentic  text  of 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     281 

Belasco's  prompt  book  as  used  at  the  Madison 
Square  Theatre:  it  is  printed  from  a  manuscript 
furnished  by  Gustave  Frohman. 

That  play,  which  marks  the  beginning  of 
Belasco's  lasting  achievement  as  a  dramatist,  claims 
particular  consideration  as  representative  of  the 
character  of  his  mind,  the  peculiarity  of  his  method 
of  dramatic  mechanism,  and  the  quality  of  his  style. 
He  has  written  better  plays  than  "May  Blossom," — 
plays  which  are  more  symmetrical  because  more 
deftly  constructed  and  more  fluent  and  rapid  in 
movement,  plays  which  contain  more  substantial 
and  interesting  character,  more  knowledge  of  human 
nature,  and  more  stress  of  feeling, — but  he  has  writ 
ten  no  play  that  more  distinctly  manifests  his 
strength  and  his  weakness,  his  scope  and  his  limi- 
tations, — what,  intrinsically,  he  is  as  a  dramatist. 

May  Blossom  is  the  daughter  of  an  old  fisher 
man,  resident  in  a  village  on  the  coast  of  Chesa 
peake  Bay,  Virginia,  in  and  some  time  after  the 
period  of  the  American  Civil  War.  She  is  beloved 
by  two  young  men,  Richard  Ashcroft  and  Steve, 
Harland,  both  estimable  and  both  by  her  esteemed. 
Each  of  those  lovers,  on  the  same  day,  asks  her 
to  become  his  wife.  She  accepts  the  proposal  of 
Ashcroft,  whom  she  loves,  and  in  rejecting  that 
of  Harland  apprises  him  of  her  betrothal  to  his 


282     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEL  AS  CO 

rival,  who  is  also  one  of  his  friends.  Harland, 
though  bitterly  wounded,  accepts  her  decision  in 
a  right  and  manly  spirit.  Later,  Ashcroft,  who  is 
sympathetic  with  the  Confederate  cause  and  who 
has  been  secretly  in  communication  with  the  Con 
federate  Army,  is  suddenly  and  privately  arrested, 
at  night,  by  Federal  military  authorities,  as  a  Rebel 
spy.  The  arrest  is  witnessed  by  Borland,  whom 
Ashcroft  beseeches  to  inform  May  Blossom  of  his 
capture  and  who  solemnly  promises  to  do  so.  Har- 
land,  however,  believing,  or  persuading  himself  to 
believe,  that  Ashcroft  will  inevitably  be  shot  as 
a  spy,  and  being  infatuated  by  passion,  breaks  his 
promise  and  permits  the  girl  to  believe  that  her 
affianced  lover  has  perished  in  a  storm  on  Chesa 
peake  Bay.  After  the  lapse  of  a  year  Harland,  still 
persistent  as  a  lover,  persuades  May  Blossom  to 
marry  him,  and  for  a  time  they  dwell  happily 
together  and  a  child  is  born  to  them.  On  the  second 
anniversary  of  their  wedding,  just  before  the  occur 
rence  of  a  domestic  festival  which  their  friends  have 
arranged  in  their  honor,  Ashcroft,  having  escaped 
from  prison,  arrives  at  their  home,  and,  in  an  inter 
view  with  May,  tells  her  of  his  arrest  and  impris 
onment,  and  of  Harland's  promise,  and  so  reveals 
her  husband's  treachery.  Harland  is  confronted 
by  them  and  a  scene  of  painful  crimination  ensues. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     283 

Ashcroft,  maddened  by  jealousy,  declares  his  pur 
pose  of  forcible  abduction  of  May,  who,  there 
upon,  speaking  as  a  wife  and  mother,  repels  him. 
AsTicroft  departs.  Harland  can  plead  no  defence 
for  his  perfidy  in  breaking  his  promise  to  Ashcroft 
except  the  overwhelming  strength  of  his  great  love, 
and  his  wife  is  agonized  and  horrified.  The  domes 
tic  festival,  nevertheless,  is  permitted  to  proceed. 
The  guests  arrive.  The  miserable  husband  and 
wife,  masking  their  wretchedness  in  smiles,  are  con 
strained  to  participate  in  merrymaking,  and  finally 
are  caused  by  the  village  pastor  to  kneel  before 
him,  receive  his  blessing,  and  embrace  and  kiss 
each  other,  after  which  ceremonial  their  guests 
depart  and  they  are  left  alone.  Then  Harland, 
condemning  himself  and  feeling  that  his  wife  can 
no  longer  love  him,  leaves  her,  purposing  to  join 
the  Rebel  Army.  Their  separation  lasts  six  years. 
Ashcroft  is  heard  of  no  more.  Harland  survives 
and  ultimately  returns  to  his  Virginia  home,  where 
a  reconciliation  is  effected  between  him  and  his 
wife,  partly  by  the  benevolent  offices  of  the  village 
pastor,  but  more  because  May  has  realized  that  she 
truly  loves  him,  and  because  the  inevitable  action 
of  time  has  dissipated  her  resentment  of  a  wrong. 
The  analyzer  of  the  drama  that  tells  this  story 
perceives  in  it  a  constructive  mind  that  is  imagina- 


284    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

tive,  romantic,  and  eccentric,  an  ardently  vehement 
faculty  of  expression,  and  a  nimble  fancy  intent 
on  devising  pictorial  and  pathetic  situations,  while 
often  heedless  of  probability — sometimes  even  of 
possibility.  Things  happen  not  because  they  would, 
in  actual  life,  so  happen,  under  the  pressure  of  cir 
cumstances,  but  because  the  dramatist  ordains  them 
to  occur,  to  suit  his  necessity.  Experience  has 
taught  the  indiscretion  of  declaring  that  anything 
is  impossible,  but  it  is  at  least  highly  improbable 
that  a  good  man  would,  in  any  circumstances,  break 
a  promise  solemnly  made  to  a  friend  whom  he 
believed  was  about  to  die.  Harland  is  depicted  as 
a  gentleman  and  one  of  deep  feeling.  Ashcroft's 
death,  if  Harland  considers  it  to  be  inevitable,  would 
at  once  relieve  him  of  any  need  to  break  his  prom 
ise,  even  if  he  had  been  ever  so  strongly  tempted 
to  do  so:  doubt  of  Ashcroft's  death  would  inspire 
far  more  poignant  remorse  and  fear  than  Harland 
actually  denotes.  May  Blossom,  furthermore, 
would  not  have  omitted  to  inquire,  with  far  more 
insistence  than  she  is  represented  to  have  shown, 
into  the  disappearance  of  the  lover  to  whom  she 
is  betrothed.  Ashcroft,  though  a  prisoner,  would 
have  been  permitted  to  communicate  with  his 
friends,  since  at  his  trial  nothing  was  proved  against 
him, — yet  he  was  still  held  in  captivity.  It  is  ques- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     285 

tionable  whether  the  manly  Harland,  a  thoroughly 
good  fellow,  would  have  married  May  Blossom, 
however  much  he  might  have  loved  her,  knowing  that 
she  loved  another  man.  It  is  more  than  question 
able  whether  May,  having  married  Harland  and 
borne  a  child  to  him,  would  have  repudiated  her 
husband,  would  have  acquiesced  in  his  parting  from 
her  and  their  child,  because  of  the  particular  wrong 
that  he  had  done  in  breaking  his  promise  to  Ash- 
croft.  The  sin  that  a  man  commits  out  of  the 
uncontrollable  love  that  he  feels  for  a  woman  is, 
of  all  sins,  the  one  that  she  is  readiest  to  forgive. 
The  likelihood  that  May  Blossom,  loving  Ashcroft, 
betrothed  to  him  and  mourning  for  him,  would, 
after  the  lapse  of  so  short  a  time  as  one  year,  have 
married  anybody  is,  likewise,  open  to  doubt. 
Belasco,  however,  was  bent  on  devising  situations,  and 
he  accomplished  his  purpose :  grant  his  premises  ( as  a 
theatrical  audience,  in  the  presence  of  a  competent 
performance  of  this  play,  almost  invariably  will  do), 
and  his  dramatic  fabric  captivates  entire  sympathy. 
I  saw  and  recorded  the  first  performance  of  "May 
Blossom."  The  play  was  then  exceedingly  well 
acted.  Georgia  Cayvan  (1858-1906),  personating 
the  heroine,  gained  the  first  decisive  success  of  her 
career.  That  actress,  a  handsome  brunette,  was 
fortunate  in  person  and  in  temperament.  Her 


286    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

figure  was  lithe,  her  face  was  brilliantly  expressive, 
her  voice  was  rich  and  sweet,  she  possessed  uncom 
mon  sensibility,  and  she  could  be,  at  will,  ingenu 
ously  demure,  artlessly  girlish,  authoritatively  stern, 
or  fervently  passionate.  She  attained  distinction 
among  American  actresses  of  "emotional"  drama 
and  was  long  and  rightly  a  favorite  on  our  Stage. 
As  May  Blossom  she  was  first  the  lovely,  simple, 
charming  girl,  and  later  the  grave,  tranquil  wife 
and  mother.  In  the  expression  of  mental  conflict 
she  was,  for  a  time,  artificial  in  method,  using  the 
well-worn,  commonplace  expedients  of  reeling,  stag 
gering,  and  clutching  at  furniture ;  but  she  reformed 
that  altogether,  and  her  capability  of  intense  pas 
sion  in  repose  was  clearly  indicated:  the  character 
was  developed  and  truly  impersonated.  Among 
her  associates  in  the  representation  were  Joseph 
Wheelock,  Sr.  (183[8?]-1908),  and  William  J. 
LeMoyne  (1831-1905),  both  actors  of  signal  abil 
ity,  now  forgotten  or  only  dimly  remembered. 
Wheelock,  in  his  early  day,  was  a  favorite  Romeo. 
LeMoyne  was  an  actor  of  rare  talent  and  remark 
able  versatility.  His  impersonations  of  eccentric, 
humorous,  peppery  old  gentlemen  were  among  the 
finest  and  most  amusing  that  our  Stage  has  known. 
In  this  play  he  personated  Unca  Bartlett,  a  benev 
olent,  affectionate,  whimsical  rural  clergyman.  I 


Photograph   by   Sarony.  Belasco's   Collection. 

GEORGIA  CAYVAN 

About  1884,  when  she  acted  in  "May  Blossom" 


288    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

two,  than  the  public  approval.  Bronson  Howard's 
recognition  of  my  work  in  improving  *  Young  Mrs. 
Winthrop'  and  your  support  of  my  'May  Blos 
som'  did  more  to  help  me  break  the  iron  ring  I 
was  shut  up  in  in  New  York  than  everything  else 
put  together!" 

The  prosperity  of  "May  Blossom"  much  facili 
tated  the  progress  of  Belasco  toward  the  attainment 
of  his  ambitious  object,  which  was  the  control  of 
a  high-class  theatre  in  New  York;  but  he  was  yet 
to  meet  with  disappointments  and  hardships  and 
to  undergo  many  trials.  The  venomous  practice 
of  stigmatizing  him  as  a  plagiarist,  which  has  long 
prevailed,  began  almost  coincidentally  with  the  suc 
cess  of  "May  Blossom."  It  should  here  be  men 
tioned  again  that  this  play  was  transformed  by 
him  from  an  earlier  play  of  his,  called  "Sylvia's 
Lovers,"  written  about  187(5?),  and  first  produced, 
in  that  year,  at  Piper's  Opera  House,  in  Virginia 
City.  When  he  had  prepared  it  in  a  new  and 
definitive  form  for  presentment  at  the  Madison 
Square  Theatre  he  showed  the  manuscript  to  How 
ard  P.  Taylor,  a  writer  for  "The  New  York  Dra 
matic  Mirror,"  at  that  time  edited  by  Harrison 
Grey  Fiske,  and  consulted  him  as  a  reputed  expert 
relative  to  historical  details  of  the  Civil  War.  That 
person  had  offered  to  the  managers  of  the  Madison 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     289 

Square  Theatre  a  play  called  "Caprice"  (produced 
August  11,  1884,  at  the  New  Park  Theatre,  New 
York,  by  John  A.  Stevens  and  the  author,  in  part 
nership — Minnie  Maddern,  now  Mrs.  Fiske,  being 
the  star),  which  those  managers  rejected.  After 
"May  Blossom"  had  been  successfully  presented, 
Taylor  accused  Belasco  of  having  caused  the  Mai- 
lory  brothers  to  reject  "Caprice,"  and  also  with 
having  stolen  ideas  from  that  play, — which,  as  stage 
manager  and  adviser  of  the  Madison  Square  Thea 
tre,  he  had  seen, — and  used  them  in  "May  Blos 
som."  Belasco  urgently  requested  him  to  make 
the  accusation  in  court,  but  Taylor,  though  he  long 
and  maliciously  persisted  in  publishing  his  defama 
tory  charge,  would  never  bring  the  matter  to  a  legal 
test.  On  the  occasion  of  the  1000th  performance 
of  "May  Blossom,"  at  a  dinner  given  by  Daniel 
Frohman  and  "Harry"  Miner,  in  celebration  of  the 
event,  Harrison  Grey  Fiske,  who,  at  his  own 
request,  had  been  included  among  the  speakers, 
stated  that  he  felt  he  had  a  duty  to  perform  in  ten 
dering  an  apology  for  the  unfounded  accusations 
repeatedly  made  by  Taylor,  in  "The  Dramatic  Mir 
ror,"  impugning  the  integrity  of  Belasco  as  an 
author  and  a  man. 

This  was  the  original  cast  of  "May  Blossom,"  at 
the  Madison  Square: 


290    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

May  Blossom Georgia  Cayvan. 

Tom  Blossom Benjamin  Maginley. 

Steve  Harland Joseph  Wheelock,  Sr. 

Richard  Ashcroft Walden  Ramsay. 

Unca  Bartlett William  J.  LeMoyne. 

Owen  Hathaway Thomas  Whiff  en. 

Captain  Drummond Henry  Talbot. 

Yank , Master  Tommy  Russell. 

Lulu Little  Belle. 

Deborah Mrs.  Thomas  Whiffen. 

Hank  Bluster King  Hedley. 

Hiram  Sloane Joseph  Frankau. 

Epe I.  N.  Long. 

Millie Etta   Hawkins. 

Little  May Carrie  Elbert. 

Whiffen  was  succeeded,  as  Hathaway,  in  this  com 
pany,  by  De  Wolf  Hopper, — one  of  the  few  genuine 
and  intrinsically  humorous  comedians  on  our  Stage 
to-day. 

FIRST    VISIT    TO    ENGLAND. -"CALLED    BACK." 

In  the  summer  of  1884  Belasco  was  sent  to  Lon 
don  by  his  employers  in  order  that  he  might  see 
a  performance  of  a  play  entitled  "Called  Back," — 
founded  on  the  novel  of  that  name  by  Hugh  Con- 
way, — which  those  managers  had  bought  for  repre 
sentation  in  America.  He  sailed  aboard  the 
Alaska,  on  July  5,  making  his  first  voyage  across 
the  Atlantic,  and  it  was  then  our  personal  acquaint 
ance  began, — as  I  chanced  to  be  a  passenger 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     291 

aboard  the  same  ship.  He  was  not,  I  remember, 
a  good  sailor,  and  for  several  days  he  remained 
in  seclusion,  but  before  the  end  of  the  voyage  we 
met  and  had  a  pleasant  conversation,  and  I  found 
him  then,  as  I  have  found  him  since,  a  singularly 
original  and  interesting  character  and  a  genial  com 
panion.  He  said  that  his  stay  in  England  would 
be  brief,  as  indeed  it  was,  for  having,  on  arrival 
in  London,  witnessed  a  representation  of  "Called 
Back,"  then  being  acted  at  the  Haymarket  Theatre 
by  Beerbohm-Tree  and  his  dramatic  company,  he 
came  back  to  New  York  on  the  return  voyage  of 
the  same  ship  that  had  carried  him  over.  His 
task, — which  was  duly  performed, — was  to  prepare 
"Called  Back"  for  presentment  at  the  Madison 
Square,  but  as  "May  Blossom"  continued  to  be 
prosperous  there  it  was  decided  not  to  interrupt 
its  successful  run,  but  to  produce  the  new  play  at 
another  theatre,  and  that  play,  accordingly,  was 
brought  out,  September  1,  1884,  under  Belasco's 
direction,  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre,  then  man 
aged  by  John  Stetson, — the  leading  parts  in  it 
being  acted  by  Robert  B.  Mantell  and  Jessie  Mill- 
ward.  The  work  done  by  Belasco  in  connection 
with  "Called  Back"  was,  practically,  the  last  that 
he  ever  did  for  the  Mallorys.  In  London  the  play 
had  been  so  fashioned  that  Paolo  Macari  was  the 


292     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

star  part,  acted  by  Beerbohm-Tree.  Belasco's  task, 
as  adapter,  was  that  of  devising  minor  modifications 
rendering  the  play  better  suited  to  presentment 
before  American  audiences:  it  was  desired  that  the 
part  of  Gilbert  Vaughan  should  be  made  as  con 
spicuous  as  possible, — the  Mallorys  being  intent  to 
make  the  most  of  the  popularity  of  Mantell,  who 
had  been  brilliantly  successful  in  "The  Romany 
Rye"  and  "Fedora"  and  had  become  a  favorite  with 
the  public.  Macari,  however,  remained  the  princi 
pal  character  in  the  drama,  and  William  J.  Ferguson, 
by  whom  it  was  exceedingly  well  played,  maintained 
it  in  its  natural  place. 

CHANGES    AT    THE    MADISON    SQUARE. 

Material  changes,  meanwhile,  had  occurred  or 
were  then  in  progress  in  the  management  of  the 
Madison  Square.  Soon  after  Steele  Mackaye  left 
that  house  Belasco's  friend  Gustave  Frohman,  one 
of  its  attaches,  had  followed  him,  to  join  in  manage 
ment  of  the  new  Lyceum.  Charles  Frohman,  who 
had  been  employed,  at  a  salary  of  $100  a  week, 
as  a  booking  agent,  to  send  on  tours  of  the  country 
all  plays  that  the  Mallorys  had  successfully  pro 
duced,  had  withdrawn,  or  was  about  to  do  so,  to 
devote  himself  to  ventures  of  his  own.  Daniel 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     293 

Frohman,  the  business  manager,  was  dissatisfied 
with  his  situation  and  prospects,  and  his  retirement 
soon  occurred.  The  Mallorys  were  forming  a  busi 
ness  alliance  with  Albert  Marshall  Palmer  (1838- 
1905),  when  Belasco  returned  from  his  trip  to  Eng 
land  in  their  interests,  and  on  August  29,  1884, 
public  announcement  was  made  that  Palmer  had 
become  a  partner  in  their  enterprise.  Palmer  was 
a  dictatorial  person,  and  Belasco,  much  more  experi 
enced  in  technical  aspects  of  theatrical  matters  and 
far  abler  as  a  stage  director,  came  almost  imme 
diately  into  conflict  with  him.  The  particular  inci 
dent  which  precipitated  the  rupture  was  trivial. 
At  a  rehearsal  of  "Called  Back"  which  Belasco 
was  conducting  Palmer  made  his  appearance,  accom 
panied  by  Boucicault.  Their  presence  disconcerted 
the  actors  and  Belasco  ,(as  he  told  me)  requested 
them  to  retire,  explaining  the  reason  for  that 
request.  Boucicault,  appreciating  the  situation, 
politely  said,  "All  right,  my  boy,  I'll  go."  Palmer, 
on  the  contrary,  brusquely  exclaimed,  "I'll  be 
damned  if  you  will,"  and  added  the  assurance  that 
he  was  a  partner  in  the  business  and  intended  to 
be  present  at  all  rehearsals.  To  this  Belasco  replied, 
"Mr.  Palmer,  the  actors  can't  rehearse  with  you 
and  Mr.  Boucicault  here,  and  if  you  don't  go  I 
shall  dismiss  the  rehearsal," — whereupon  Palmer 


294     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

went.  This  encounter  and  Palmer's  general  man 
ner  satisfied  Belasco  that  he  could  not  long  retain 
his  office,  and  although  Palmer  subsequently 
requested  him  to  remain  at  the  Madison  Square 
(after  "Called  Back"  was  safely  launched  at  the 
Fifth  Avenue)  and  continue  to  rehearse  the  com 
pany  there,  benevolently  proposing  that  he  would 
himself,  in  each  case,  supervise  the  last  two  or  three 
full  rehearsals  (an  old  theatrical  practice,  whereby 
one  man  does  all  the  work  and  another  comes  in  at 
the  last  moment  to  take  all  the  credit  for  it,  while 
actually  doing  almost  nothing),  he  insisted  on 
obtaining,  and  did  obtain,  acceptance  of  his  resig 
nation.  The  Mallorys  themselves  were  the  next 
to  leave  the  Madison  Square,  and  on  March  13, 
1885,  Palmer  became  sole  manager  of  that  theatre. 

A    LABORIOUS     INTERLUDE.— LYCEUM    THEATRE. 

After  leaving  that  house  Belasco  for  about  two 
years  worked  as  a  free-lance  in  the  theatrical  arena. 
One  plan  which  he  seriously  entertained  and  strove 
to  accomplish  in  that  interval  was  the  formation 
of  a  theatrical  company,  headed  by  himself  as  a 
star,  to  traverse  the  country,  presenting  "Hamlet," 
or  a  new,  sympathetic,  popular  drama  of  his  own 
fabrication, — possibly  to  present  both  those  plays, — 
in  which  he  might,  perhaps,  make  a  personal  hit 


DAVID    BELASCO    AS    HAMLET 

"Since  no  man  has  aught  of  what  he  leaves,  what  is  't  to  leave  betimes?" 

-Act  V.    sc.  2 


ograph  by  Houseworth,  San  Francisco. 
nal  loaned   by   Mrs.    Da-vid   Belasco. 


9M    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

This  encounte  Palmer's  general  man 

ner  satisfied  Belasco  that  he  could  not  long  retain 
office,     and     although     Palmer     subsequently 
requested  him  to   i  at  the  W  Square 

(after  "Called    I  was  safely   launched  at  the 

Fifth  Avenue)    and  continue  to  reh<  he  com 

pany  there,  benevolently  proposing  that  he  would 
himself,  in  each  case,  supervise  the  last  two  or  three 
full  rehearsals  (an  old  theatrical  practice,  whereby 
one  man  does  all  the  work  and  another  comes  in  at 
the  last  r>  ^r  it,  while 

actually    doi 

aining,  and  did  f  his  resig- 

he  next 
on  March  13, 
?at  theatre. 

THEATRE. 

>elasco  for  about  two 
ce  in  the  theatrical  arena, 
isly  entertained  and  strove 
interval   was  the  formation 
pany,  headed   by   himself  as  a 
country,  presenting  "Hamlet," 
tic,  popular  drama  of  his  own 
%r  to  present  both  those  plays, — 
he  might,  perha]  ce  a  personal  hit 

TBJMA.H    3A    OO8AJ3S    QIVAQ 

»n«\  ol  V  e\  ^n<\<w  ,E«HDQ\  eA  ^nAy*  \o  ^A^un  &nA  nnm  on  eon\%kl 
.oa   .V  toA- 


iilsJI 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    295 

and  become  as  prosperous  as  certain  other  actors 
then  were, — notably  Jefferson,  as  Rip  Fan  Winkle, 
and  John  S.  Clarke,  as  Major  de  Boots.  "I  was 
keen  to  act  then,"  he  said  to  me,  "and  sometimes 
now  I  wish  I  had  stuck  to  it."  With  him  as  with 
most  other  persons,  however,  the  path  that  he  should 
tread  was  ordained  by  the  iron  force  of  circum 
stance.  He  did  whatever  work  he  could  find  to 
do,  and  his  occupations  were  various.  He  trained 
members  of  an  amateur  society,  in  Brooklyn,  called 
"The  Amaranth."  He  revised  a  play  called  "Caught 
in  a  Corner"  (it  had  previously  been  tinkered  by 
Clay  M.  Greene,  and  it  was  produced  in  New  York, 
Belasco's  arrangement,  November  1,  1887,  at  the 
Fourteenth  Street  Theatre)  for  Maurice  Bertram 
Curtis,  an  actor  now  dimly  remembered  for  his 
performance  in  "Sam'l  of  Posen,"  with  whom  he 
had,  in  1878,  been  affiliated  as  a  member  of  the 
"Frayne  Troupe,"  travelling  in  California.  More 
particularly  he  became  associated  with  Steele  Mac- 
kaye,  in  the  Lyceum.  That  theatre  was  situated  in 
Fourth  Avenue,  next  to  the  old  Academy  of  Design, 
which  stood  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Twenty-third 
Street  and  Fourth  Avenue.  It  was  built,  on  ground 
leased  from  William  Y.  Mortimer,  by  Philip  G. 
Hubert,  Charles  W.  Clinton,  and  Michael  Brennan, 
and  it  was  opened  by  Mackaye  on  April  6, 1885,  with 


296     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

a  play  called  "Dakolar,"  which  he  had  "conveyed" 
from  "Le  Maitre  de  Forges,"  by  Georges  Ohnet.  The 
chief  parts  were  played  by  Robert  B.  Mantell,  John 
Mason,  Viola  Allen,  and  Sadie  Martinet.  Belasco's 
position  at  the  Lyceum  was  that  of  assistant  stage 
manager  and  general  helper  for  Mackaye,  whose 
signal  ability  he  appreciated  and  admired.  He  was 
engaged  at  a  salary  of  $150  a  week, — which,  how 
ever,  he  never  received, — was  installed  in  a  private 
office,  and,  for  a  short  time,  was  happy  because 
deluded  as  to  what  he  was  about  to  accomplish. 
In  his  "Story,"  referring  to  the  play  of  "Dakolar," 
he  relates  that,  prior  to  its  production,  Mackaye 
read  it,  at  his  home,  to  a  group  of  critical  persons, 
of  whom  I  was  one,  in  order  to  obtain  their  opinions 
of  it.  As  to  one  point  his  memory  is  at  fault:  I 
was  not  present.  Mackaye  (who  was  a  friend  of 
mine)  did  read  "Dakolar"  to  me,  but  that  reading 
occurred  privately,  in  his  office.  We  sat,  I  remem 
ber,  at  a  large  table,  he  at  an  end  of  it  and 
I  at  the  right-hand  side.  He  was  a  highly  excitable 
person,  and  as  his  reading  progressed  he  became 
wildly  enthusiastic,  hitching  his  chair  nearer  and 
nearer  to  me,  with  much  extravagant  gesticulation, 
so  that  I  was  impelled  to  hitch  my  chair  further 
and  further  away  from  him,  till  the  two  of  us 
actually  made  an  almost  complete  circuit  of  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     297 

table  before  the  reading  was  finished!  It  was  a 
tiresome  experience.  At  the  critical  symposium 
which  Belasco  recalls  various  opinions  were 
expressed  by  Mackaye's  auditors,  that  of  Belasco 
being  withheld  until  Mackaye  insisted  on  its  expres 
sion,  when  it  was  made  known  as  strongly  adverse  to 
the  play.  Thereafter  a  coolness  ensued  between 
the  manager  and  his  assistant.  Other  causes  of 

friction  occurred,  and  presently  Mackaye  remarked 

. 

to  him,  "There  is  room  for  only  one  genius  in  this 
theatre,  and  one  of  us  ought  to  resign."  This  inti 
mation  caused  Belasco  to  retire,  and  so  ended  that 
episode. 

Mackaye,  who,  in  his  youth,  had  studied  in  Paris, 
under  the  direction  of  Fra^ois  Delsarte  (1811- 
1871), — an  eccentric  person,  of  whom  and  his  pecul 
iar  character,  ways,  and  notions  the  reader  can 
pleasantly  obtain  an  instructive  glimpse  from  that 
delightful  book,  by  Mme.  Hagermann-Lindencrone, 
"In  the  Courts  of  Memory," — had,  from  the  time 
of  his  advent  in  New  York  theatrical  life  (1872), 
sedulously  striven  to  promote  the  tuition  of  his 
trionic  aspirants  according  to  the  tenets  of  that 
instructor;  and  in  opening  the  Lyceum  Theatre  he 
started,  in  connection  with  it,  a  School  of  Acting. 
In  this  Franklin  Sargent  at  first  co-labored  with 
him,  but  after  a  short  time  withdrew,  to  carry  on  a 


298    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

school  of  his  own.  When  Belasco  left  Mackaye 
and  the  Lyceum  he  joined  Sargent,  and  as  his 
extraordinary  talent  for  stage  direction  had  made 
him  popular  with  Mackaye's  pupils,  the  larger  part 
of  them  followed  him  to  Sargent's  school, — to  the 
lively  disgust  of  Mackaye. 

"VALERIE"    AT    WALLACE'S. 

An  important  incident  of  this  fluctuant  period 
was  Belasco's  employment  by  Lester  Wallack 
(1820-1888),  with  whom  he  had  become  so  pleas 
antly  acquainted  in  1882,  at  the  time  of  the  New 
York  production  of  his  "La  Belle  Russe."  Wal 
lack,  one  of  the  best  actors  who  have  adorned  our 
Stage  and  for  about  thirty  years  the  leading  theat 
rical  manager  in  America,  was  then  drawing  toward 
the  close  of  his  career  and  the  end  of  his  life.  His 
strength  was  failing,  his  audience  dropping  away. 
He  thought  he  might  perhaps  reanimate  public 
interest  in  his  theatre, — where  he  still  maintained  a 
fine  company, — if  he  should  appear  in  a  new  char 
acter.  "I  think  I  have  one  more  'study'  in  me," 
he  told  Belasco,  "and  I  should  like  you  to  try 
to  make  for  me  a  play  with  good  parts  for  Mr. 
Bellew  and  Miss  Robe  [Kyrle  Bellew,  Annie  Robe, 
John  Gilbert,  Mme.  Ponisi,  Sophie  Eyre,  and 
Henry  Edwards  were  among  the  members  of  his 


Photograph  by  Sarony.  Courtesy  of   Percy   Mackaye,    Esq. 

JAMES    STEELE    MACKAYE 

About   188G 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     299 

company  at  the  time],  and  with  a  character  for 
me  similar  to  Henry  Beauclerc,  in  'Diplomacy.' 
Another  'Diplomacy'  would  carry  us  over."  Belasco 
had  no  original  play  in  mind  at  that  time  and  Wai- 
lack  had  no  definite  suggestion  to  make,  beyond 
his  wish  for  something  similar  to  "Diplomacy," — 
which  he  had  produced,  for  the  first  time  in  Amer 
ica  and  with  great  success,  at  Wallack's  Theatre 
(the  Thirteenth  Street  house),  April  1,  1878.  The 
result  of  several  long  conferences  between  manager 
and  playwright  was,  accordingly,  that  a  new  ver 
sion  of  Sardou's  "Fernande"  (which  had  been  first 
produced  in  America,  at  the  Dalys'  Fifth  Avenue 
Theatre,  June  7,  1870,  with  Daniel  H.  Harkins, 
George  Clarke,  and  Agnes  Ethel  in  the  chief 
parts)  would  be  the  most  auspicious  venture.  On 
this  play,  accordingly,  Belasco  began  to  work.  "I 
had  no  home  in  those  days,"  he  told  me,  "except 
a  small  hall  bedroom  at  No.  43  West  Twenty- 
fourth  Street,  and  no  proper  place  in  which  to 
write.  I  used  to  do  much  of  my  work  in  the 
public  writing-room  of  the  old  Fifth  Avenue 
Hotel  [which  stood  at  the  northwest  corner 
of  Twenty-third  Street  and  Broadway],  but  I 
wanted  to  be  near  Wallack,  because  frequent  con 
sultations  were  necessary,  in  order  that  I  might  meet 
his  requirements  and  fit  his  company,  and  so  I 


300    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

asked  him  if  he  couldn't  give  me  some  place  in  his 
theatre  where  I  might  work  conveniently.  He  very 
courteously  and  greatly  to  my  delight  opened  his 
own  library  to  me,  in  his  house  'round  the  corner 
[Wallack  dwelt  in  a  house  on  the  north  side  of 
West  Thirtieth  Street,  No.  13,  adjoining  his  thea 
tre],  and  there  I  made  my  version  of  'Fernande' 
and,  practically,  lived  till  it  was  done." 

That  version,  called  "Valerie,"  was  completed 
within  four  weeks,  and  it  was  produced  at  Wai- 
lack's  Theatre  on  February  15,  1886.  Wallack, 
instead  of  buying  the  refashioned  play  outright 
from  Belasco,  as  was  the  usual  custom  of  the  time, 
agreed  to  pay  him  the  handsome  royalty  of  $250 
a  week,  as  long  as  it  held  his  stage, — the  adapter, 
moreover,  being  privileged  to  present  it  outside 
of  New  York.  "Valerie,"  while  serviceable  in  a 
theatrical  way,  is  not  a  thoroughly  good  play, 
and  it  is  distinctly  inferior  to  the  earlier  version, 
by  Hart  Jackson, — as,  indeed,  could  scarcely  be 
otherwise,  since  Belasco  had  worked  under  the  dis 
advantage  of  being  required  to  make  a  new  play 
on  the  basis  of  an  old  one,  then  still  current,  in 
which  the  best  possible  use  of  the  material  impli 
cated  had  already  been  made.  In  the  building  of 
"Valerie,"  which  is  comprised  in  three  acts,  reliance 
was  placed  in  whatever  of  freshness  could  be 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     301 

imparted  to  the  method  of  treatment, — and  that 
was  not  much.  The  scene  of  the  action  was  shifted 
from  France  to  England.  The  foreground  of  the 
life  of  Fernande,  appearing  under  the  name  of 
Valerie,  was  omitted.  The  names  of  the  other  char 
acters  were  also  changed.  The  First  Act  deals 
largely  with  preparation  and  is  devoted  mainly  to 
a  somewhat  preposterous  scene  in  which  the  evil 
agent  of  the  drama,  Helena,  allures  her  lover,  Sir 
Everard  Challoner,  by  a  false  confession  that  she 
is  tired  of  him,  to  make  a  true  confession  not  only 
that  he  is  tired  of  her  but  that  he  loves  another 
woman.  Challoner  is  represented  as  of  a  noble 
English  family  and  of  a  singularly  ingenuous  mind. 
He  states  that  the  woman  whom  he  loves  is  a  young 
stranger  whom  he  has  casually  encountered,  lean 
ing  against  a  post,  in  the  street,  in  a  condition  of 
faintness,  and  the  deceptive  Helena  thereupon  prof 
fers  her  services  to  discover  the  unknown  object 
of  his  sudden  affection.  She  has  rescued  a  vagrant 
female  from  the  streets,  and  it  turns  out  that  this 
waif  is  the  interesting  stranger  for  whom  they  are 
to  seek.  In  the  Second  Act  the  malignant  Helena 
exults  in  the  marriage  of  her  former  lover  to  a 
woman  whom  she  believes  to  be  a  demirep.  That 
is  to  consummate  her  revenge  for  having  been  dis 
carded  by  Challoner,  but  when  she  is  about  to  over- 


302     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

whelm  him  with  the  declaration  that  he  has  wedded 
an  outcast,  Walter,,  the  good  genius  of  the  story, 
forcibly  compels  her  sudden  retirement  behind  a 
velvet  curtain.  This  is  the  "strong  situation"  of 
the  drama.  In  the  Third  Act  this  evil  woman's 
scheme  of  vengeance,  which  she  endeavors  to  push 
to  a  completion,  is  finally  discomfited  by  the  vindi 
cation  of  the  girl,  Valerie,  and  a  happy  climax 
crowns  an  incredible  fiction. 

The  play  is  long  and  portions  of  it  are  tedious. 
The  dialogue  is  generally  commonplace.  Two  strik 
ingly  original  lines,  however,  attracted  my  atten 
tion:  "Love  at  first  sight,  you  know,"  and  "this 
is  the  happiest  day  of  my  life!"  The  postulate 
illustrated  is  kindred  with  that  of  Congreve's  well- 
known  (and  almost  invariably  misquoted)  couplet, 

"Heaven  has  no  rage  like  love  to  hatred  turned, 
Nor  hell  a  fury  like  a  woman  scorned." 

That  theme  may,  perhaps,  be  interesting.  It  seemed 
to  interest  auditors  at  Wallack's,  but  the  manifes 
tations  of  approval  were  probably  due  to  the  man 
ner  in  which  the  play  was  acted  rather  than  to  its 
intrinsic  appeal.  Annie  Robe  appeared  as  Valerie. 
There  was  in  the  personality  of  that  actress  a  cer 
tain  muscular  vigor  incompatible  with  the  ideal  of 
a  sweet,  fragile  girl,  intended  in  the  original  scheme 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     303 

of  Sardou  and  suggested  in  its  paraphrase,  but 
Miss  Robe's  performance  evinced  a  fine,  woman 
like  intuition  and  it  was  suffused  with  touching 
sincerity.  Wallack,  as  Walter,  had  to  personate  a 
character  which,  for  him,  was  of  trifling  moment, — 
the  poised,  self-possessed  man  of  the  world,  at  home 
amid  difficulties  and  always  master  of  the  situation. 
The  kindness  of  his  nature  shone  through  his  embod 
iment  and  the  grace  of  his  action  made  it  delight 
ful.  In  Wallack's  acting  there  was  that  delicate 
suggestion  of  great  knowledge  of  human  nature 
and  of  the  world  which  can  be  expressed  only  by 
those  who  have  had  ample  experience  of  life,  and 
also  there  was  the  denotement  of  a  nature  which 
had  been  sweetened,  not  embittered,  by  the  trials 
through  which  it  had  passed.  Kyrle  Bellew  acted 
with  simple  dignity  in  situations  which  sometimes 
were  of  such  an  irrational  character  as  might  well 
perplex  or  baffle  the  art  of  the  most  accomplished 
comedian.  His  performance  was  much  and  justly 
admired.  Sophie  Eyre,  who  assumed  the  affronted 
female,  pursued  her  baleful  purpose  with  surpass 
ing  energy,  much  breadth  of  treatment,  and  fre 
quently  fine  theatrical  effect:  but  her  performance 
excelled  in  force  rather  than  in  refinement. 

This  is  the  complete  cast  of  the  play  as  acted  at 
Wallack's  Theatre: 


304     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Sir  Everard  Challoner ........ Kyrle  Bellew. 

Mons.  Xavier.  . . . . Henry  Edwards. 

Hon.  George  Alfred  Bettly. . Ivan  Shirley. 

Dr.  Rushton Daniel   Leeson. 

Roberts ... . John    Germon. 

Jameson S.  Du  Bois. 

Helena  Malcom — Sophie  Eyre. 

Valerie  de  Brian.  .-. Annie  Robe. 

Lady  Bettly.  .  .  . .  ...,. Mme.  Ponisi. 

Julia  Trevillian Helen  Russell. 

'Agnes Kate  Bartlett. 

Walter  Trevillian.' Lester  Wallack. 

Such  merit  as  "Valerie"  contains  was  derived 
from  the  French  original.  It  is  a  piece  of  jour 
neyman  work,  undertaken  as  such,  and  as  such  well 
enough  done.  Wallack  seems  to  have  been  con 
scious  of  its  defects:  in  a  letter  of  his  to  Belasco, 
which  the  latter  has  carefully  preserved,  he  says: 

(Lester  Wallack  to  David  Belasco.) 
"13,  West  Thirtieth  Street, 

"[New  York]  December  31,  [1885.] 
"Dear  Mr.  Belasco: — 

"We  must,  have  another  'go'  at  the  last  act. 
"The  dialogues  are  infinitely  too  long,  and  we  have  missed 
the  opportunity  for  a  strong  scene  for  Mr.   Bellew  and 
Miss  Robe. 

"I  rehearsed  the  two  first  acts  yesterday. 

"Yours  always, 

"LESTER  WALLACK." 


•a! 


o     W 

!! 


W     o 

«  5 
o  < 
tf 

w 

HH 

5? 
S5 

<J 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     305 

Handsome  scenes  were  provided  for  the  play  at 
Wallack's  and  it  received  some  measure  of  public 
support,  holding  the  stage  till  March  14.  Wallack's 
first  appearance  in  it  was  his  first  appearance  in 
the  season  of  1885-'86,  and  Walter  was  the  last 
new  part  that  he  ever  acted.  Belasco  had  great 
respect  for  Wallack,  recognizing  and  appreciating 
his  wonderful  powers  as  an  actor  and  his  extraor 
dinary  achievements  as  a  manager.  Wallack,  while 
Belasco  was  writing  "Valerie,"  offered  him  employ 
ment,  as  stage  manager,  to  produce  it,  but  Belasco 
wisely  declined.  "I  knew,"  he  said,  "that  Wallack 
would  not  be  able  to  sit  by  and  let  me  direct  his 
company — much  less  himself — and  so  I  thanked 
him  but  declined,  telling  him,  'Mr.  Wallack,  I 
should  be  afraid  of  Mr.  Bellew  and  Miss  Robe,  and 
of  you!'  When  he  asked  me  to  ccome  in  from  time 
to  time  and  watch  the  rehearsals,'  of  course  I  agreed, 
and  I  did  go  in  and  made  a  few  suggestions  to 
him.  I  could  have  remained  at  Wallack's,  in 
charge  of  the  stage,  but  I  saw  my  doing  so  would 
lead  to  nothing,  so  I  refused  an  offer  he  made 
me  and  kept  myself  free.  I  treasure  the  mem 
ory  of  Wallack  and  my  association  with  him. 
He  was  one  of  the  big  figures  of  our  Stage, 
very  pathetic,  to  me,  in  his  last  efforts  to  stem 
the  tide  running  against  him,  and  he  was  the 


306     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

most    courteous    gentleman    I    ever    met    in    the 
Theatre." 

MORE    ERRORS    CORRECTED. 

Belasco's  carelessness  of  statement  is  again  illus 
trated  in  a  remark  made  in  his  "Story"  regarding 
contemporary  conditions  when  Wallack's  career  was 
ending:  "New  men,"  he  writes,  "were  on  the  hori 
zon,  public  taste  was  changing,  and  lighter  forms 
of  entertainment  were  coming  into  vogue.  Even 
Daly  was  meeting  reverses  and  the  Madison  Square 
was  going  downhill."  It  is  regrettable  that  such 
an  influential  manager  should  fall  into  such  errors 
and  unintentionally  contribute  to  the  generally  pre 
vailing  ignorance  of  theatrical  history.  I  am  again 
prompted  to  quote  the  old  sage,  Dr.  Johnson,  who 
remarks  that  "To  be  ignorant  is  painful,  but  it  is 
dangerous  to  quiet  our  uneasiness  by  the  delusive 
opiate  of  hasty  persuasion."  At  the  time  of  which 
Belasco  speaks  (1886-'87)  Daly  was,  in  fact,  on 
the  crest  of  the  wave  of  success,  with  "A  Night 
Off,"  "Nancy  &  Co.,"  and  revivals  of  the  Old  Come 
dies.  In  May,  1886,  he  took  his  company  on  a 
notably  successful  tour  which,  after  nine  weeks  in 
London,  embraced  Paris,  Hamburg,  Berlin,  Edin 
burgh,  Glasgow,  Liverpool,  and  Dublin,  and  soon 
after  his  return  to  America  he  produced,  in  New 


Photograph    by    Falk. 


Courtesy  of  Arthur  Wallack,   Esq. 

LESTER  WALLACK 


Taken   at    about   the   time   he   produced    Belasco's    "Valerie," — 1886 
(The  last  picture   ever   made   of  Wallack) 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     307 

York,  for  the  first  time  in  our  country,  "The  Tam 
ing  of  the  Shrew,"  in  which  Ada  Rehan  gave  her 
matchless  personation  of  Katharine  and  which  was 
the  most  successful  of  all  his  ventures  in  the  second 
half  of  his  great  career,  ending  in  1899.  The  Madi 
son  Square,  so  far  from  "going  downhill,"  was 
just  entering  on  a  period  of  notable  prosperity  and 
influence,  with  Jones's  "Saints  and  Sinners,"  Mans 
field's  presentment  of  "Prince  Karl,"  which  ran 
from  May  3  to  August  14,  1886;  "Jim  the  Pen 
man,"  "Heart  of  Hearts,"  etc.  Palmer  remained 
in  management  of  the  Madison  Square  till  Sep 
tember,  1891. 


AN    EXTRAORDINARY    COMPANY    AND    A    SUMMER 
SEASON    IN    SAN    FRANCISCO. 

Soon  after  "Valerie"  was  withdrawn  at  Wallack's, 
— that  is,  March- April,  1886, — Belasco  received  and 
accepted  an  invitation  to  return  to  the  city  of  his 
birth,  and  the  scene  of  much  of  his  vicissitudinous 
early  career,  as  stage  manager  of  what  was  fairly 
denominated  "a  stock  company  of  stars"  and  was, 
without  question,  one  of  the  strongest  theatrical  com 
panies  ever  assembled  in  America.  That  company 
was  organized  by  Al.  Hayman  to  fill  a  summer  sea 
son  at  the  Baldwin  Theatre  (of  which  he  had 


308     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

obtained  control  in  1883)  and  it  comprised  the  fol 
lowing  players: 

Robert  B.  Mantell.  Errol  Dunbar. 

Joseph  Haworth.  George  H.  Cohill. 

William  J.  Ferguson.  Sophie  Eyre. 

Charles  Vandenhoff.  Florence  Gerard. 

Rowland  Buckstone.  Mary  Shaw. 

Henry  Miller.  Louise  Dillon. 

Owen  Fawcett.  Kate  Denin. 

W.  H.  Crompton.  Kitty  Wilson. 

Maurice  Barrymore.  Ada  Dyer. 

L.  J.  Henderson.  Mrs.  Alfred  Fisher. 

Alfred  Fisher.  Agnes  Thomas. 
Mrs.  C.  R.  Saunders. 

Hayman's  company  began  its  engagement  under 
Belasco's  direction,  at  the  Baldwin,  May  31,  in  a 
dramatized  synopsis  of  Ouida's  novel  of  "Moths," 
which  was  cast  thus: 

Lord  Jura Joseph  Haworth. 

Prince  Zourojf Charles  Vandenhoff. 

Raphael  de  Correze Henry  Miller. 

Duke  of  Mull  and  Cantyre Rowland  Buckstone. 

Joan E.  J.  Holden. 

Fuchsia  Leach Louise  Dillon. 

Duchess  de  Sonnah Agnes  Thomas. 

Lady  Dolly  V  anderdecken Kate  Denin. 

Princess  Nadine  Helegrine Sydney  Cowell. 

Vera  Herbert Sophie  Eyre. 

On  June  7  Belasco's  "Valerie"  was  presented,  the 
parts  being  distributed  as  follows: 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     309 

Sir  Everard  Challoner Joseph  Haworth. 

Walter  Trevillian. . W.  J.  Ferguson. 

Mons.  Xavier.  . .. Charles  Vandenhoff. 

Hon.  George  Alfred  Bettly .... .  .Rowland  Buckstone. 

Dr.  Rushton ... ... ... W.  H.  Crompton. 

Roberts ....... .E.  J.  Holden. 

Helena  Malcom Sophie  Eyre. 

Valerie  de  Brian .,. ...... .... ...  .  .Louise  Dillon. 

Lady  Bettly. ... .... Kate  Denin. 

Julia  Trevillian.  ....... ....... ... ..... ..[... ... . .  .Sydney  Cowell. 

Agnes .,. ... .Trella  Foltz. 

"Valerie"  was  received  with  favor  and  played  for 
one  week.  It  was  succeeded,  June  14,  by  a  revival 
of  "The  Marble  Heart,"— in  which  Mantell  played 
Phidias  and  Raphael,  Ferguson  Volage,  and  Miss 
Eyre  Marco.  "Anselma"  was  acted  on  the  21st; 
"The  Lady  of  Lyons"  on  the  24th,  and  "Alone  in 
London"  on  the  28th.  A  particularly  rich  setting 
was  provided  for  the  last  named  presentment,  which 
was  warmly  commended  for  the  perfection  of 
Belasco's  stage  management,  the  excellence  of  the 
acting  and  "beautiful  and  bewitching  scenery  and 
stage  effects."  Mme.  Modjeska  appeared  on  July 
12,  supported  by  members  of  the  Hayman  com 
pany,  in  Maurice  Barrymore's  nasty  play  of  "Nad- 
jezda":  this,  however,  appears  to  have  been  brought 
forth  under  the  stage  management  of  its  author 
and  without  any  assistance  from  Belasco.  On 


310     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

July  18  the  latter  took  a  benefit  at  the  Baldwin, 
at  which  the  theatre  was  densely  crowded  by  a 
wildly  enthusiastic  audience.  The  occasion  was 
made  a  general  testimonial  of  the  cordial  admira 
tion  and  high  personal  esteem  in  which  Belasco 
had  come  to  be  held  in  his  native  city,  by  the  public 
as  well  as  by  fellow-members  of  his  profession.  It 
was  directed  by  a  committee  of  which  Charles 
Bozenta  (Modjeska's  husband  and  manager)  was 
the  President  and  Clay  M.  Greene  and  Maurice 
Barrymore  the  Vice-Presidents,  many  distinguished 
men  and  women  of  the  Theatre  and  of  public  life 
in  California  being  members.  The  programme 
included  the  names  of  more  than  sixty-five  players 
and  the  principal  features  of  it  were  as  follows: 

"Clothilde,"  One  Act  of,  by  Jeffreys-Lewis   and  Company. 

M.  B.  Curtis Recitations. 

McKee  Rankin Recitations. 

"The  Private  Secretary,"  One  act  of,  with  John  N.  Long 
as  the  Rev.  Spaulding,  and  the  original  cast. 

Helene  Dingeon Songs. 

Maurice    Barrymore Recitations. 

"Carrie"   Swan "Specialties." 

Edwin  Foy Imitations. 

"Called  Back,"  One  Act  of, 

Macari Joseph  R.  Grismer. 

Gilbert  Vaughan Maurice  Barrymore. 

Pauline Phoebe    Davies. 

Mary . ,  .  .  .  .  Louise  Dillon. 


Photograph   by    Sarony. 


Belasco's   Collection. 


ALBERT  M.  PALMER 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     311 

E.  J.  Buckley "  'Ostler  Joe." 

"Shadows  of  a  Great  City,"  Last  Act  of,  by  the  original  cast. 

On  July  26  Belasco  left  San  Francisco  for  New 
York, — where  immediately  after  his  arrival  he  did 
some  unacknowledged  tinkering  and  readjusting  of 
a  play  by  Archibald  Clavering  Gunter,  called  "A 
Wall  Street  Bandit,"  which  was  produced,  Septem 
ber  20,  at  the  Standard  Theatre,  under  the  manage 
ment  of  Charles  Frohman.  Belasco's  next  employ 
ment  was  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre. 

AFFAIRS    OF     THE    LYCEUM. 

Wallack's  company  did  not  last  much  more  than 
a  year  after  the  time  when  Belasco  was  offered  an 
opportunity  to  join  it  as  stage  manager:  it  was 
disbanded  on  May  30,  1887,  after  giving  a  final 
performance,  at  Daly's  Theatre,  in  "The  Romance 
of  a  Poor  Young  Man."  Thus  Belasco's  decision 
not  to  ally  himself  in  any  permanent  capacity  with 
that  organization  proved  fortunate  for  him.  Mean 
time  Mackaye's  administration  of  the  Lyceum  The 
atre  was  not  successful.  "Dakolar"  ran  there  from 
April  6  to  May  23  (1885),  when  the  house  was 
closed.  On  September  15,  following,  a  reopening 
was  effected,  with  a  new  version,  by  Mackaye,  of 
Victorien  Sardou's  "Andrea,"  presented  under  the 
name  of  "In  Spite  of  All,"— the  chief  parts  of  it 


312     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

being  acted  by  Minnie  Maddern  (now  Mrs.  Fiske), 
Eben  Plympton,  Richard  Mansfield,  and  Selina 
Dolaro.  That  play  held  the  stage  till  November  7, 
when  Mackaye  relinquished  his  lease  of  the  Lyceum 
and  control  of  that  theatre  was  obtained  by  Daniel 
Frohman.  "In  Spite  of  All"  was  taken  to  Boston 
by  Charles  Frohman,  Belasco  going  with  it  as  stage- 
manager.  After  the  presentment  of  it  in  Boston 
Belasco  returned  to  New  York,  and  soon  entered 
into  the  engagement  with  Wallack  which  has  been 
described.  Having  finished  "Valerie,"  he  renewed 
his  association  with  Sargent,  in  the  School  of  Act 
ing,  thus  coming  into  indirect  connection  with  the 
Lyceum  Theatre.  On  November  10,  1885,  that 
house  had  been  opened  under  the  direction  of  Helen 
Dauvray  ("Little  Nell,  the  California  Diamond"), 
Daniel  Frohman  being  the  lessee,  in  a  play  written 
specially  for  her  by  Bronson  Howard,  called  "One 
of  Our  Girls,"  in  which  she  made  a  success  as  Kate 
Shipley.  That  play  was  acted  for  200  nights,  the 
run  closing  on  May  22,  1886,  when  Miss  Dauvray 
retired  from  the  direction  of  the  Lyceum.  Daniel 
Frohman  then  announced  himself  as  the  manager 
of  that  theatre,  opening  it,  on  May  24,  with  Frank 
Mayo,  in  the  play  of  "Nordeck,"  which  ran  for 
two  weeks,  when  the  season  ended.  It  was  reopened 
on  September  18,  following,  with  Henry  C.  De 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     313 

MUle's  play  of  "The  Main  Line;  or,  Rawson's  Y." 
Belasco,  through  his  indirect  connection  with  the 
Lyceum,  came  into  employment  in  rehearsal  of 
various  plays  for  the  English  actress  May  Fortes- 
que  (Finney),  who,  on  October  18,  1886,  began 
a  brief  engagement  at  the  Lyceum,  appearing  in 
W.  S.  Gilbert's  "Faust,"  acting  Gretchen,  and 
later,  November  8,  played  Frou-Frou,  and,  Novem 
ber  29,  IolantheJ  in  "King  Rene's  Daughter,"  and 
Jenny  Northcott,  in  "Sweethearts."  Miss  Fortesque 
was  not  successful  in  America  and  on  March  23, 
1887,  she  sailed  for  England.  While  Belasco  was 
rehearsing  her  company  Daniel  Frohman  engaged 
him  at  the  Lyceum,  at  a  salary  of  $35  a  week,  as 
stage  manager,  adviser,  and  general  assistant,  and 
that  position  he  held  till  early  in  the  year  1890. 
Meanwhile  Belasco,  besides  his  activities  as  a  teacher 
in  the  Lyceum  School  of  Acting  (the  pupils  of 
that  school,  under  his  direction,  gave  a  creditable 
performance  of  a  translation  of  Moliere's  "Les 
Precieuses  Ridicules,"  March  23,  1887,  at  the 
Lyceum),  was  at  work  on  the  revision  of  a  play 
by  John  Maddison  Morton  (1811-1891)  and  Robert 
Reece,  called  "Trade,"  which  was  written  for 
Edward  A.  Sothern  and  had  been  inherited  by  his 
son,  Edward  Hugh  Sothern,  whose  contract  with 
Miss  Dauvray  had  been  assumed  by  Daniel  Froh- 


314     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

man,  and  who  was  soon  to  figure  at  the  Lyceuii 
as  leading  man  and,  practically,  as  star.  The  play 
of  "Trade,"  in  its  original  form,  was  defective. 
The  elder  Sothern,  an  intimate  friend  of  mine,  con 
sulted  me  about  it,  I  remember,  and  at  his  request, 
and  as  a  friendly  act,  I  suggested  some  changes 
and  wrote  into  it  one  scene.  My  work,  however, 
was  not  important.  Belasco  practically  rewrote  the 
play,  and,  under  the  name  of  "The  Highest  Bid 
der,"  his  version  of  it  was  produced  at  the  Lyceum, 
May  3,  1887,  with  E.  H.  Sothern  as  Jack  Ham- 
merton,  the  leading  part. 

"THE    HIGHEST    BIDDER." 

"The  Highest  Bidder"  is  one  of  the  many  plays 
which  are  correctly  designated  as  "tailor-made." 
Such  things  do  not  spring  from  an  original  dra 
matic  impulse.  Morton  and  Reece  aimed  to  fit  the 
elder  Sothern  with  a  part  that  would  suit  him,  and 
they  did  not  accomplish  the  purpose,  nor  did  that 
accomplished  comedian,  who  did  much  work  on 
their  play.  Belasco,  revising  it  for  the  younger 
Sothern,  considerably  improved  it,  telling  the  story 
more  fluently  and  making  the  central  character 
more  piquant  and  flexible.  Jack  Hammerton  is 
an  amiable  young  man,  of  abundant  wealth,  by  pro 
fession  an  auctioneer,  by  nature  diffident  in  gen- 


Photograph    by    Sarony. 


Bflasco's    Collection. 


EDWARD   H.   SOTHERN 

About    1838 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     315 

eral  society,  impulsive  in  temperament  and  prone 
to  entangle  himself  in  foolish  embarrassments,  but 
capable  of  calm,  decisive  action  in  situations  of 
danger.  An  old  friend  of  his,  resident  in  the  coun 
try,  has  become  involved  in  financial  difficulties  and 
a  valuable  estate  is  to  be  sold  to  relieve  him.  The 
young  auctioneer  is  employed  to  conduct  the  sale, 
and  he  finds  that  his  old  friend  has  a  charming 
young  daughter,  supposed  to  be  an  heiress,  who  is 
being  courted  by  a  specious  baronet  who  is  a  dis 
honest  gambler  and  a  forger.  In  trying  to  unmask 
this  rascal  the  amiable  auctioneer  involves  himself 
in  a  distressing  tangle  of  misapprehension,  but 
eventually  he  discomfits  the  wily  schemer  (who 
incidentally  makes  an  abortive  attempt  to  murder 
him),  frees  himself  from  suspicion,  and  proves  at 
once  the  rectitude  of  his  intentions  and  the  ardor 
of  his  devotion  to  the  lady  whom  he  loves  and  whom 
he  wishes  to  rescue  from  the  toils  of  a  villain.  At 
the  climax  of  the  auction  scene  he  "knocks  down" 
his  friend's  estate  to  himself,  in  the  capacity  of  "the 
highest  bidder,"  and  then  lays  it,  with  his  heart, 
at  the  feet  of  the  object  of  his  adoration, — who, 
after  an  excess  of  hesitancy,  accepts  him  and  his 
property. 

"The    Highest    Bidder"    was    set    in    handsome 
scenery  and  the  parts  in  it  were  judiciously  cast: 


316    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Lawrence  Thorrihill J.  W.  Piggott. 

Bonham  Cheviot.  — William  J.  LeMoyne. 

Jack  Hammerton. Edward  H.  Sothern. 

Muffin  Struggles. . ., .,.  . ., Rowland  Buckstone. 

Evelyn  Graine _ Herbert  Archer 

Joseph Walter  Clark  Bellows. 

Parkyn William  A.  Faversham. 

Rose  Thorrihill Belle  Archer. 

Mrs.  Honiton  Lacy , , Alice  Crowther. 

Louise  Lacy Vida  Croly. 

LeMoyne  and  Miss  Archer,  on  this  occasion, 
made  their  first  appearance  at  the  Lyceum.  The 
play  was  well  acted,  Sothern  animating  the  serio 
comic  part  of  Hammerton  with  earnest  feeling  and 
sustained  and  winning  vivacity.  The  success  had 
not  been  expected.  Dismal  forebodements  had  pre 
ceded  its  production.  "We  had  a  small  private 
audience  at  a  dress  rehearsal,"  said  Belasco,  "and 
it  was  ghastly;  everybody  was  unresponsive  and 
chilly,  they  pretty  well  took  the  starch  out  of  all 
the  actors,  and  made  us  all  nervous,  despondent, 
and  miserable.  We  had  another  'go'  at  the  piece, 
with  nobody  in  front,  and  it  seemed  a  little  better; 
but  we  were  all  stale  on  it;  we  couldn't  tell  what 
would  happen.  What  a  difference  when  we  had 
a  friendly  audience,  fresh  to  the  piece  and  willing 
to  be  pleased!"  "The  Highest  Bidder"  held  the 
stage  from  May  3  to  July  16,  when  the  Lyceum 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     317 

was  closed  for  the  season,  but  it  was  revived  on 
August  29,  and  it  ran  till  September  17.  Then, 
on  September  20,  under  Belasco's  stage  direction, 
Cecil  Raleigh's  neat  farce  of  "The  Great  Pink 
Pearl"  was  brought  out,  together  with  the  drama 
in  one  act  called  "Editha's  Burglar."  The  latter  is 
an  adaptation  of  a  story  by  Mrs.  Frances  Hodgson 
Burnett,  and  its  production  is  specially  notable  as 
being  that  of  the  first  play  by  the  brilliant  and  rep 
resentative  American  dramatist  Augustus  Thomas, 
and  because  of  the  instant  success  achieved  in  its 
central  character  by  Elsie  Leslie, — certainly  the  most 
remarkable  child  actor  of  the  last  sixty  years  and 
one  of  the  loveliest  and  most  enchanting  children 
ever  seen  anywhere.  To  her  captivating  personality, 
and  to  her  instinctive  histrionic  talent,  judiciously 
fostered  and  elicited  by  Belasco,  was  due  the  success 
of  the  "double  bill":  it  held  the  Lyceum  stage  until 
October  30,  and  thereafter  was  acted  in  many  other 
cities.  In  New  York  the  principal  adult  part,  that 
of  the  Burglar,  was  assumed  by  E.  H.  Sothern:  "on 
the  road"  it  was  played  by  William  Gillette. 

"PAWN    TICKET    210." 

Another  venture,  made  in  1887,  that  was  impor 
tant  to  Belasco,  was  the  production,  by  his  friend 
of  early  days,  the  fay-like  little  Lotta,  of  a  play 


318     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

which  he  wrote  for  her  in  collaboration  with  Clay 
M.  Greene,  entitled  "Pawn  Ticket  210."  In  the 
summer  of  that  year,  after  those  authors  had  sub 
mitted  their  play  to  her,  Lotta  expressed  herself  as 
favorably  impressed  by  it  but  as  being  doubtful 
as  to  whether  the  public  would  care  for  her  in  its 
central  character,  which  contains  some  touches  of 
serious  feeling.  "I  play  and  dance  and  sing,"  she 
said,  "and  that  seems  to  be  about  all  my  audience 
expects  of  me."  Her  interest  in  the  piece,  however, 
finally  overcame  her  hesitation;  she  agreed  to  buy 
it  outright,  for  $5,000,  and  produce  it,  provided 
that  Belasco  would  direct  the  rehearsals.  To  that 
stipulation  he  readily  consented;  a  first  payment  of 
$2,500  was  made,  and  the  play  was  prepared  for 
public  representation  on  the  stage  of  the  Lyceum, 
immediately  prior  to  the  rehearsals  there  of  "The 
Great  Pink  Pearl"  and  "Editha's  Burglar":  it  was 
first  acted  at  McVicker's  Theatre,  Chicago,  Sep 
tember  12,  1887. 

"Pawn  Ticket  210"  is  a  melodrama,  in  four  acts, 
based  in  part  on  an  idea  in  the  novel  of  "Court 
Royal,"  by  Baring-Gould,  and  containing  two  char 
acters  derived  therefrom.  The  story  is  extravagant 
to  the  point  of  absurdity.  The  mother  of  an  infant 
girl,  being  in  desperate  need  of  money,  leaves  her 
babe  with  a  Jewish  pawnbroker,  as  security  for  a 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     319 

loan  of  $30,  and  then  disappears.  The  child,  Mag, 
attains  to  young  womanhood  and  is  about  to  be, 
practically,  forced  into  marriage  with  the  old  pawn 
broker,  Uncle  Harris,  who  holds  her  as  "collateral," 
when  her  mother  returns  and,  with  the  assistance  of 
a  youth  named  Saxe,  redeems  the  girl  and  provides 
for  her  happiness.  Spectators  of  this  amazing  med 
ley  might  well  have  been  puzzled  to  divine  its 
purpose,  since  they  were  at  one  moment  required 
to  contemplate  scenes  of  violence  and  bloodshed  and 
the  next  were  regaled  with  the  capers  of  burlesque, — 
Lotta,  abandoning  all  endeavor  at  serious  portrayal 
of  character,  skipping  over  barrels,  frisking  upon 
tables,  kicking  off  her  slippers,  grimacing,  dancing, 
and  singing  as  only  Lotta  could. 

That  play  was  greeted  by  the  writers  for  the 
Chicago  newspapers  with  extreme  and  derisive  cen 
sure.  Belasco  and  Greene,  reading  the  adverse 
reviews,  were  much  disheartened  and  expected  that 
Lotta  would  withdraw  their  play  and  revive  one 
of  her  early  and  successful  vehicles.  "I  had  been 
in  Chicago,  for  the  dress  rehearsal,"  writes  Belasco, 
in  a  memorandum,  "but  my  duties  as  stage  manager 
at  the  Lyceum  required  me  to  return  to  New  York 
before  the  first  performance.  The  rehearsals  hadn't 
been  satisfactory  to  me.  And  when,  on  top  of  the 
scathing  notices,  I  received  a  wire  from  Lotta 


320     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

[after  "The  Pearl"  and  "Editha's  Burglar"  had 
been  produced]  asking  us  to  come  out  to  Chicago 
again,  I  felt  sure  it  meant  that  our  play  was  to 
be  dropped."  When,  however,  in  company  with 
Greene,  he  called  on  the  actress,  his  dismal  fore 
bodings  were  happily  dispersed.  "Don't  pay  any 
attention  to  the  criticisms,"  admonished  the  sensible 
little  Lotta;  "I  have  just  had  word  from  my  man 
ager  saying  there  is  a  line  that  extends  around  the 
block,  trying  to  get  to  the  box  office.  The  house 
has  been  packed  to  the  roof,  at  every  performance. 
None  of  my  plays  has  ever  received  good  notices — 
but  the  public  comes.  We  have  a  great  big  success 
in  this  piece!"  Lotta's  mother,  who  was  present, 
by  way  of  confirming  this  auspicious  view,  said, 
"We'll  show  you  what  we  think  of  it,"  and  forth 
with  handed  to  the  delighted  authors  a  check  for 
the  second  payment  of  $2,500, — although,  writes 
Belasco,  "it  was  a  month  ahead  of  the  stipulated 
time."  "Pawn  Ticket  210"  was  the  chief  reliance  of 
Lotta  during  the  season  of  1887-'88,  and  thereafter 
it  was  utilized  by  several  of  the  various  performers 
who  sought  to  emulate  her, — conspicuous  among 
them  Amy  Lee.  This  is  the  cast  of  the  original 
production  at  McVicker's: 

Mag ,T — . . . . Lotta. 

Uncle  Harris .-. John  Howson. 


Photograph    by    Sarony. 


Bela?co's    Collection. 


LOTTA    (CHARLOTTE    CRABTREE) 

About  the  time  of  "Pawn  Ticket  No.  210'' 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     321 

John  Sterrihold Charles  L.  Harris. 

Montague  Flash G.  C.  Boniface. 

Charles  Saxe. Cyril  Scott. 

Osiah  Gregg. . . .'. J.  W.  Hague. 

Postman ..;, ..... F.  Waldo  Parker. 

Ruth.  .1 , Augusta   Raymond. 

Alice  Sternhold Lilian   Richardson. 

Aunt  Dorothy. .-. . . .-.Ernestine  Floyd. 

"BARON    RUDOLPH"    AND    GEORGE    S.    KNIGHT. 

The  continuous,  energetic,  productive  industry  of 
Belasco  is  further  signified  by  the  fact  that  during 
the  interval  between  "The  Highest  Bidder"  and 
"The  Wife"  (May  to  November,  1887)  he  found 
time  to  do  an  important  piece  of  work  in  association 
with  Bronson  Howard.  That  author  had,  several 
years  earlier,  written  a  play  for  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
William  J.  Florence,  called  "Only  a  Tramp."  Mrs. 
Florence  was  not  satisfied  with  the  part,  Nellie  Dash- 
wood,  designed  for  her,  and  the  Florences,  accord 
ingly,  rejected  the  play.  In  1886  it  was  bought 
from  Howard  by  George  S.  Knight  (George  Wash 
ington  Sloan, — 1850-1892),  who  chanced  to  meet 
Howard  in  London  and  to  whom  it  was  offered. 

The  play  of  "Baron  Rudolph"  (or  "Rudolph," 
as,  finally,  it  was  denominated)  is  not  a  distinctive 
or  important  one,  but  it  contains,  chiefly  as  the 
result  of  Belasco's  revision  (it  was  earlier  acted  in 


322     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

New  York,  as  Howard  left  it,  so  this  statement 
rests  on  direct  comparison),  effective  elements  of 
comedy  and  some  amusing  incidents  and  fluent  dia 
logue.  Knight  was  a  competent  comedian, — nothing 
more:  he  lacked  personal  magnetism,  delicacy,  and 
the  rare  and  precious  faculty  of  taste. 

The  story  of  the  play  is  trite  and  it  is  artificial; 
it  belongs  to  the  category  typified  by  "Struck  Oil," 
in  which  James  C.  Williamson  and  his  wife,  "Mag 
gie"  Moore,  were  widely  successful,  many  years  ago, 
gaining  a  fortune  with  it.  It  depicts  the  vicissitudes 
and  sufferings  of  a  kind  and  loving,  though  weak 
and  imprudent  man,  Rudolph,  and  of  his  wife  and 
child.  Rudolph,  who  has  been  prosperous,  is  piti 
fully  poor,  and  his  wife  and  their  child  are  on  the 
verge  of  starvation.  The  husband  returns,  slightly 
intoxicated,  to  their  squalid  abode,  and  the  wife, 
stung  to  bitter  resentment,  leaves  him,  taking  their 
child,  and  intent  to  earn  a  living  by  her  own  labor. 
In  this  purpose  she  succeeds,  and  after  an  interval 
of  about  two  years  she  obtains  a  divorce  from 
Rudolph, — who,  meantime,  has  become  a  gin-sodden 
"tramp,"  abject  and  wretched, — and  she  weds  a 
swindling  scoundrel,  the  secret  agent  of  Rudolph's 
ruin.  That  specious  villain  is  detected,  appre 
hended,  and  exposed  as  a  forger,  in  the  moment  of 
the  wretched  Rudolph's  accession  to  a  fortune  and 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     323 

a  baronetcy,  in  Germany,  and  then  a  scene  of  rec 
ognition  and  reconciliation  ensues, — containing  pos 
sibilities  of  pathetic  effect, — between  the  wretched 
father,  "only  a  tramp,"  and  his  daughter.  This 
story  is  jumbled  with  the  wooing  of  a  sprightly 
widow,  named  Nellie  Dashwood,,  a  sort  of  Mrs. 
General  Gilflory  (in  "The  Mighty  Dollar") ;  an 
attempted  burglary;  a  secondary  story  about  two 
very  young  lovers,  and  a  tedious  tangle  of  literal 
detail  and  "outward  flourishes." 

Persons  who  care  to  observe  how  disruption 
wrought  by  poverty,  suffering,  and  weakness,  in 
the  home  of  an  affectionate  husband,  wife  and  child, 
can  be  treated  with  poignant  dramatic  effect  should 
study  the  old  play  of  "Belphegor;  or,  The  Mounte 
bank," — in  which,  as  Belphegor,  Charles  Dillon  gave 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  touching  perform 
ances  it  has  ever  been  my  fortune  to  see.  The  tri 
umphant  use  of  such  material  can  also  be  studied 
in  the  late  Charles  Klein's  "The  Music  Master,"  as 
augmented,  rectified,  and  produced  by  Belasco, 
with  David  Warfield  in  its  central  part,  Herr  von 
Earwig.  When  revived,  as  altered  and  amended  by 
Belasco,  "Rudolph"  was  handsomely  set  on  the 
stage,  but  Knight's  method  of  dressing  and  acting 
the  principal  part  ruined  any  chance  of  success 
which  it  might  have  had. 


324     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Knight  became  infatuated  with  the  part  of  the 
Tramp,  and  he  produced  "Rudolph,"  for  the  first 
time,  in  the  Fall  of  1886,  at  the  Academy  of  Music, 
Cleveland.  In  1887  Howard  rewrote  the  play — 
receiving,  as  I  understood,  $3,000  for  doing  so, — and 
it  was  then  produced  at  Hull,  England,  with  Knight 
and  his  wife  as  stars,  supported  by  members  of 
Wilson  Barrett's  company,  from  the  Princess'  Thea 
tre,  London.  In  its  revised  form  it  was  called 
"Baron  Rudolph."  Knight  was  still  dissatisfied 
with  the  structure  of  it,  and,  returning  to  America, 
desired  that  Howard  should  again  revise  it,  but  this 
Howard  was  unable  to  do,  being  preoccupied  with 
labor  on  "The  Henrietta,"  for  Robson  and  Crane 
(that  play  was  produced  for  the  first  time  at  the 
Union  Square  Theatre,  September  26,  1887),  but, 
at  his  request,  Belasco  undertook  a  second  revision. 
"My  object,"  he  said,  "was  to  do  the  work  as  nearly 
as  possible  in  Howard's  way,  and  I  must  have  suc 
ceeded  pretty  well,  because  when  I  took  the  script 
to  him  he  said:  'You've  caught  my  style,  exactly!' 
And  he  would  not  allow  the  piece  to  be  produced 
as  'By  Bronson  Howard';  he  insisted  that  I  should 
have  public  credit  as  a  co-author."  In  its  final  form 
it  bore  Howard's  second  title,  "Baron  Rudolph," 
and,  under  the  direction  of  Charles  Frohman,  repre 
senting  Knight,  and  the  stage  management  of 


THE  LIFE  OP  DAVID  BELASCO     325 

Belasco,  it  was  produced  at  the  Fourteenth  Street 
Theatre,  New  York,  on  October  24,  1887.  "There 
was  the  chance  for  an  immense  popular  success  and 
a  fortune  in  the  piece,"  Belasco  said  to  me,  "but 
Knight  threw  it  all  away.  He  insisted  on  cmaking- 
up'  Rudolph,  the  tramp,  in  such  a  literal,  dirty, 
repulsive  manner  that,  in  the  recognition  scene  where 
the  girl  learns  he  is  her  father  and  has  to  embrace 
and  kiss  him,  the  audience,  instead  of  being  sympa 
thetic,  was  disgusted.  We  argued  and  entreated 
with  Knight:  I  told  him,  over  and  over  and  over, 
what  would  happen.  But  he  couldn't,  or  he 
wouldn't,  see  it — and  it  happened!"  The  play 
failed,  utterly;  it  was  kept  on  the  stage  for  four 
weeks  and  then  withdrawn.  Knight,  first  and  last, 
lost  a  modest  fortune  on  that  play,  and  its  ultimate 
failure  broke  him  down.  He  and  his  wife  went  on 
a  tour,  after  ending  their  engagement  at  the  Four 
teenth  Street  Theatre,  in  an  early  success  of  theirs,  a 
farce  called  "Over  the  Garden  Wall,"  but  Knight's 
brain  was  affected;  within  a  few  months  he  suffered 
a  shock  of  paralysis,  and,  on  July  14,  1892,  after 
much  suffering,  he  died,  in  Philadelphia.  During 
his  illness  he  was  maintained  and  cared  for,  with 
exemplary  devotion,  by  his  wife. 

This  was  the  cast  of  "Baron  Rudolph,"  at  the 
Fourteenth  Street  Theatre: 


326     THE  LIFE  OF.  DAVID  BELASCO 

Rudolph George  S.  Knight. 

Whetworth Frank  Carlyle. 

Rhoda Carrie  Turner. 

Owen r Lin   Hurst. 

Sheriff Frank   Colfax. 

Ernestine Jane   Stuart. 

General  Metcalf Charles  Bowser. 

Judge  Merrybone M.  A.  Kennedy. 

Geoffrey  Brown Henry  Woodruff. 

Allen George  D.  Fawcett. 

Nellie  Dashwood Mrs.  George   S.  Knight. 

"THE   WIFE." 

When,  in  the  preceding  May,  "The  Highest 
Bidder"  had  been  successfully  launched,  Daniel 
Frohman,  intending  the  establishment  of  a  per 
manent  stock  company  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre, 
began,  with  Belasco,  consideration  of  plays  that 
might  be  suitable  for  production,  in  the  next  season, 
and  of  actors  whom  it  might  prove  expedient  and 
feasible  to  engage  for  the  projected  company.  No 
play  that  seemed  to  them  suitable  was  found,  and 
Mr.  Frohman  presently  suggested  that  Belasco 
should  write  one.  Belasco,  somewhat  unwillingly,— 
because  of  the  responsibility  involved, — agreed  to 
do  so;  but  while  in  conference  with  Mr.  Frohman 
Henry  De  Mille  chanced  to  enter  the  office  where 
they  were,  and  the  manager,  conscious  of  Belasco's 
hesitancy,  suggested  that  he  should  undertake  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     327 

new  play  in  collaboration  with  De  Mille.  To  this 
Belasco  eagerly  agreed,  and  that  was  the  begin 
ning  of  a  long  and  agreeable  association.  The 
co-workers  soon  repaired  to  De  Mille's  summer 
home,  at  Echo  Lake,  and  began  work  on  a  play 
which  at  first  they  called  "The  Marriage  Tie,"  but 
which  eventually  was  named  "The  Wife,"— not  a 
felicitous  choice  of  title,  because  it  had  been  sev 
eral  times  previously  used,  and,  in  particular,  has 
long  been  identified  with  the  excellent  comedy  of 
that  name  by  James  Sheridan  Knowles  (1784- 
1862),  first  produced  in  1833,  at  Covent  Garden, 
London,  and  throughout  many  years  by  various 
stars  or  stock  companies  in  our  Theatre.  Belasco 
has  written  the  following  account  of  the  manner  in 
which  their  play  of  "The  Wife"  was  constructed  by 
De  Mille  and  himself: 

"A  COMMON-SENSE  HUSBAND." 

"At  last,  after  many  plots  were  cast  aside,  I  hit  upon 
an  idea.  In  my  varied  experience  as  dramatist  and  stage 
manager  I  had  produced  many  so-called  society  plays  in 
which  the  wife  was  either  guilty  of  unfaithfulness  or  had 
committed  an  indiscretion.  In  the  'big'  scene  it  was  the 
conventional  thing  for  the  husband  to  enter  the  room  at 
midnight,  and  say  to  the  woman:  'Of  course,  after  all  that 
has  happened,  I  must  get  a  divorce.'  Then  he  threw  legal 
documents  on  the  desk,  and  said:  'Here  are  the  deeds  to  the 
house.  All  necessary  provisions  have  been  made  for  you  and 


328    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

the  child.  But  for  the  sake  of  society,  etc.,  etc.,  we  will 
continue  to  dwell  under  the  same  roof  for  a  while.' 

"  'Let  us  have  a  common-sense  husband,'  I  proposed  to 
De  Mille.  'After  the  husband's  discovery,  let  him  treat  his 
wife  in  a  perfectly  sane,  human  way.  Let  him  say:  "You 
need  me.  Turn  to  me,  for  your  protection !"  '  I  had  treated 
a  similar  situation  in  a  play  which  ran  in  opposition  to 
Bronson  Howard's  'The  Banker's  Daughter'  at  Baldwin's 
Theatre  in  San  Francisco.  [The  play  was  "The  Million 
aire's  Daughter."] 

"Mr.  De  Mille  agreed  with  me  that  we  should  use  the 
idea  of  this  husband  as  the  basis  of  our  Lyceum  drama.  I 
knew  my  ground,  for  I  had  gained  my  knowledge  through 
experience.  And,  as  we  were  to  see,  that  incident  saved 
'The  Wife'  in  its  hour  of  need.  It  has  kept  the  play  alive 
all  these  years  and  made  it  one  of  our  most  popular  stock 
pieces.  Before  De  Mille  and  I  began  the  play  we  had  vir 
tually  written  our  Third  Act,  jotting  down  notes  and  flashes 
of  dialogue.  Then  we  went  to  Mr.  Frohman  with  our 
idea,  and  in  that  conference  the  Lyceum  Theatre  Company 
was  born.  In  fact,  it  came  into  being  before  the  play,  and 
De  Mille  and  I  found  ourselves  obliged  to  create  characters 
to  fit  the  personalities  of  the  players  Mr.  Frohman  had 
engaged.  We  could  not  say:  'Here  is  our  heroine.  Find 
an  actress  to  suit  her' — for  Georgia  Cayvan  was  to  be 
the  leading  lady,  whatever  the  play  might  be,  and  it  was 
for  us  to  see  that  she  had  a  womanly  woman's  part.  .  .  . 

"In  the  early  part  of  May  we  began  our  race  against 
time;  night  and  day  found  us  turning  out  experimental 
pages  of  dialogue.  Every  week  we  came  to  the  city  for 
a  few  hours,  to  see  how  the  scenes  of  the  play  were  progress 
ing — for  that  was  another  condition  imposed  upon  us — to 
decide  upon  the  location  of  our  acts  before  they  were  written. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     329 

In  those  days  audiences  would  not  have  been  content  with 
repetitions  of  scenes  such  as  we  now  employ. 

"With  what  eagerness  did  Mr.  Frohman  wait  our  visits 
to  the  city  and  listen  to  the  new  scenes !  Towards  the  lat 
ter  part  of  August  we  had  completed  a  five-act  drama, 
which  we  handed  in  with  the  understanding  that  it  might  be 
cut,  revised  and  rewritten.  We  told  Mr.  Frohman  that  if  it 
did  not  come  up  to  expectations  there  was  time  for  him  to 
look  elsewhere  for  a  play. 

"It  must  have  been  after  the  reading  of  the  Third  Act  that 
Mr.  Frohman's  office  door  opened  and  he  rushed  out  crying: 
'By  Jove,  it's  fine,  it's  splendid!'  De  Mille  and  I  didn't 
stop.  We  hurried  to  the  station  and  were  off  to  Echo  Lake 
for  our  vacation.  ..." 

The  play  of  "The  Wife"  is  in  five  acts  and  it 
involves  fourteen  persons.  Its  scenes  are  laid  in 
Newport,  New  York,  and  Washington,  D.  C.,  about 
1887.  Its  dialogue  is  written  in  that  strain  of  com 
monplace  colloquy  which  is  assumed,  with  justice, 
to  be  generally  characteristic  of  "fashionable  society" 
in  its  superficial  mood  and  ordinary  habit.  The 
influence  of  Bronson  Howard's  example  is  obvious 
in  it, — that  writer's  plan,  which  had  been  success 
ful,  of  catching  and  reflecting  the  general  tone  and 
manner  of  "everyday  life"  and  often  of  distressingly 
"everyday  persons";  persons  who,  nevertheless,  are 
at  times  constrained  to  behave  in  a  manner  not 
easily  credible,  if,  indeed,  possible,  whether  in 
everyday  or  any  other  kind  of  life.  To  copy 


330    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

commonplaces  in  a  commonplace  manner  is  by  some 
judges  deemed  the  right  and  sure  way  to  please 
the  public.  That  method  does  often  succeed,  since, 
generally,  people  like  to  see  themselves.  This,  how 
ever,  was  not  the  method  of  the  great  masters  of 
comedy,  such  as  Moliere,  Congreve,  and  Sheridan, 
who  taught,  by  example  and  with  results  of  great 
value,  that  a  comedy,  while  it  should  be  a  true 
reflection  of  life  and  a  faithful  picture  of  manners, 
should  also  be  made  potent  over  the  mind,  the  heart, 
and  the  imagination,  by  delicate,  judicious  exaggera 
tion,  should  be  made  entertaining  by  equivoque,  and 
should  be  made  impressive  by  the  fibre  of  strong 
thought,  and  sympathetic  by  trenchant,  sparkling 
dialogue.  That  old  method  of  writing  comedy, 
although  it  has  been  exemplified  by  the  best  writers 
and  is  still  attempted,  has,  to  a  great  extent,  been 
superseded  by  the  far  inferior  and  much  easier 
method  of  conventional  colloquialism  and  chatter. 

The  ground  plan  of  "The  Wife,"  though  Belasco 
may  have  thought  it  a  novelty,  was,  even  in  1887, 
mossy  with  antiquity.  A  girl,  Helen  Freeman, 
parts  from  her  lover,  Robert  Grey,  in  a  moment  of 
pique,  and  weds  with  another  man,  to  whom  she 
gives  her  hand,  but  not  at  first  her  heart;  she  sub 
sequently  meets  her  old  flame  and  finds  that  she  is 
still  fond  of  him;  causes  social  tattle  by  being  seen 


From  an   old   photograph, 

DAVID  BELASCO 


Belasco's   Collection. 

CLAY  M.  GREENE 


In  1887,  when,  in  collaboration,  they  wrote  "Pawn  Ticket  210' 
for  Lotta 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     331 

too  much  in  his  company;  admits  to  her  husband 
that  her  juvenile  partiality  for  this  early  suitor  still 
lingers  in  her  feelings,  and  so  causes  that  worthy 
man  some  uneasiness;  but  she  ends  by  casting  her 
girlish  fancy  to  the  winds  and  avowing  herself  a 
fond  as  well  as  a  faithful  wife.  "The  guests  think 
they  have  seen  him  before."  They  have!  And  also 
they  have  heard,  rather  more  than  twice  before,  two 
of  the  speeches  which  are  uttered:  "As  a  soldier 
it  is  my  business  to  make  widows,"  and  "Hell  has 
no  fury  like  a  woman  scorned." 

This  is  the  story:  Helen  Freeman  loved  Robert 
Grey  and  by  him  was  beloved.  Robert  Grey  had 
jilted  Lucile  F err  ant,  of  New  Orleans.  Lucile 
informed  Helen  of  this  fact,  and  Helen  therefore 
repudiated  Robert  Grey  and  wedded  with  John 
Rutherford,  of  the  United  States  Senate.  Matthew 
Culver,  a  politician,  hostile  to  Robert  Grey  in  poli 
tics  and  at  the  bar,  and  wishful  to  defeat  Robert's 
attempt  to  obtain  an  office,  persuaded  Lucile  to 
apprise  Rutherford  that  Robert  and  Helen  had  been 
lovers,  and  by  many  persons  were  thought  to  be 
so  still.  Rutherford,  investigating  this  tale,  discov 
ered  that  Culver  had  maliciously  and  meanly 
schemed  to  make  mischief  and  that  the  attachment 
of  Robert  and  Helen  was  probably  one  of  the  senti 
mental  "flames"  which  are  customary  in  youth; 


332    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEEASCO 

whereupon  he  rebuked  Culver,  talked  frankly  witK 
Robert  Grey,  advising  him  to  stick  to  his  legal  busi 
ness,  and  presently  procured  his  appointment  to  a 
lucrative  office,  at  the  same  time  assuring  Helen  of 
his  delicate  consideration  for  her  feelings  and  his 
intention  to  take  good  care  of  her.  Culver  then 
went  to  South  America  and  stayed  there,  while  Miss 
Ferrant  repaired  to  the  South  of  France,  and  Rob 
ert  Grey  greatly  distinguished  himself  by  laborious 
diligence  in  the  public  service.  This  adjustment 
might  have  been  expected  to  content  all  parties  con 
cerned,  but  it  did  not  content  Rutherford.  His  wife 
actually  had  "loved  another"  before  she  loved  him, 
and  on  that  fact  he  brooded,  stating  that  his  heart 
contained  nothing  but  "bloodless  ashes."  Perhaps 
Helen's  sentimental  fancy  had  lasted.  Juvenile 
flame  was  only  a  phrase.  As  sagaciously  remarked 
by  Emilia  in  "Othello," 

"...  jealous  souls  will  not  be  answered  so; 
They  are  not  ever  jealous  for  the  cause, 
But  jealous  for  they're  jealous." 

The  distressed  Senator,  therefore,  sat  up  till  a 
late  hour  every  night,  grieving  for  his  wife's  "lost 
love,"  until  at  last  Helen,  observing  his  dejection, 
was  moved  to  discover  and  avouch  that  her  juvenile 
fancy  for  Robert  Grey  had  been  a  girlish  infatua- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     333 

tion  and  to  declare  her  "calm,  peaceful,  and  eternal 
love"  for  her  husband.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rutherford 
then  sailed,  aboard  the  Alaska,  for  Europe.  It 
appeared,  incidentally,  that  Jack  Dexter  and  Kitty 
Ives,  giddy  things,  though  bright  and  good,  hover 
ing  about  the  story,  were  lovers,  but  that  Kitty's 
mother  did  not  approve  of  their  engagement  till 
after  Jack  had  smirched  his  face  with  a  bit  of 
smoked  glass,  and  also  that  all  the  persons  con 
cerned  in  these  momentous  affairs  once  saw  an 
eclipse  of  the  sun,  which  was  visible  in  Washington. 
Almost  every  person  in  this  play  is  colorless  and 
insignificant.  The  proceedings  of  the  characters 
evince  no  natural  sequence  between  motive  and  con 
duct.  Given  two  young  persons  who  love  each 
other,  they  could  not  possibly  be  alienated  by  con 
juring  up  the  bugbear  of  a  previous  attachment. 
Nothing  is  so  dead  as  the  love  that  has  died,  and 
every  lover  instinctively  knows  it.  Moreover,  the 
ladies,  practically  without  exception,  are  more 
pleased  than  disquieted  by  discovering  that  their 
lovers  have  found  they  could  live  without  others  but 
not  without  them.  The  fabric,  in  short,  is  one  of 
elaborate  trifling  with  serious  things,  for  the  sake 
of  situations  and  effects.  The  play  should  have 
been  called  "The  Husband"  rather  than  "The 
Wife,"  because  it  is  Rutherford  in  whom  the 


334     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

interest  centres.  The  best  scene  in  it  is  the 
one  of  explanation  and  reconcilement  between  the 
husband  and  wife,  and  this  was  the  invention  of 
Belasco,  around  which  and  for  the  sake  of  which 
the  play  was  written.  It  contains  a  strain  of 
rational,  fine  manliness  that  wins  and  holds  attentive 
sympathy. 

In  studying  the  plays  written  by  Belasco  and  De 
Mille  in  collaboration  it  is  essential  to  bear  in  mind 
the  apportionment  of  the  labor,  in  order  correctly 
to  estimate  Belasco's  share  in  them.  The  writing 
in  that  co-partnership  was  largely  done  by  De 
Mille:  the  dramatic  machinery,  the  story  in  action, 
was  supplied  almost  entirely  by  Belasco,  who  acted 
the  scenes,  when  the  plays  were  in  process  of  con 
struction,  the  dialogue  being  beaten  out  between  the 
co-workers. 

This   was    the    original   cast    of    "The   Wife",- 
November  1,  1887: 

Hon.  John  Rutherford Herbert  Kelcey. 

Robert   Grey Henry   Miller. 

Matthew  Culver Nelson  Wheatcroft. 

Silas    Truman Charles    Walcot. 

Major  Homer William  J.  LeMoyne. 

Jack  Dexter Charles  S.  Dickson. 

Helen  Truman,  Mrs.  Rutherford Georgia  Cayvan. 

Lucile  Ferrant Grace  Henderson. 

Mrs.  Bellamy  Ives Mrs.  Charles  Walcot. 

Mrs.  Amory Mrs.  Thomas  Whiffen. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     335 

Agnes Vida  Croly. 

Mr.  Randolph W.  Clark  Bellows. 

Kitty  Ives Louise  Dillon. 

"The  Wife"  was  so  beautifully  set,  so  perfectly 
directed,  and  so  well  acted  that,  though  at  first  the 
dead  weight  of  the  play  oppressed  its  representa 
tion,  the  public  press,  even  at  the  first,  inclined  to 
accord  it  an  importance  which  it  did  not  deserve. 
Georgia  Cayvan's  impersonation  of  the  wife  revealed 
anew  the  deep  feeling  and  the  graceful  art  that  had 
won  her  recognition  as  a  favorite  actress.  Grace 
Henderson  (she  was  the  wife  of  David  Henderson, 
critical  writer  and  producer  of  musical  extrava 
ganza),  who  acted  the  mischief  making,  jilted 
woman,  Lucile,  played  with  discretion  and  sincerity, 
— but  it  was  difficult  for  the  spectator  to  believe 
that  a  woman  with  a  face  so  beautiful  and  a  voice 
so  delicious  would  ever  have  been  jilted  by  any 
man  not  blind  and  deaf.  Henry  Miller  was  loud 
and  extravagant  as  Grey;  Herbert  Kelcey  was 
dignified,  manly,  and  fine  in  feeling  and  elegant 
in  manner  and  movement  as  Rutherford,  and 
LeMoyne  was  delightfully  humorous  as  Major 
Homer. 

"The  Wife"  received  239  consecutive  perform 
ances.  Yet  the  fate  of  that  play  hung,  for  some 
time,  in  the  balance.  "I  knew,  even  before  the  pro- 


336     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

duction,"  said  Belasco  to  me,  "that  it  was  too  long 
and  too  loosely  jointed,  but  I  felt  it  could  make 
good;  and  Mr.  Frohman  had  faith.  De  Mille  was 
pretty  well  discouraged  after  a  week  or  ten  days, 
and  he  told  me  he  expected  he'd  have  to  go  back 
to  school-teaching  [De  Mille  had  been  a  school 
teacher  before  he  joined  the  Madison  Square  The 
atre,  where,  in  1884,  Belasco  first  met  him].  Brent 
Good,  proprietor  of  Carter's  Little  Liver  Pills, 
and  also  Stickney  protested,  in  a  directors'  meet 
ing,  that  the  play  was  a  failure  and  was  losing 
money  and  ordered  it  withdrawn."  The  next  morn 
ing  Daniel  Frohman  instructed  Belasco  to  put  the 
play  of  "Featherbrain,"  by  James  Albery,  into 
rehearsal  and  prepare  it  for  production  as  rapidly 
as  possible.  "I  felt  certain,"  Belasco  has  told  me, 
"that  'The  Wife'  could  be  made  a  great  money- 
getter,  and  I  resolved  it  should  have  a  fair  trial:  I 
held  back  on  the  preparations  of  'Featherbrain'  all 
I  could, — and,  meantime,  De  Mille  and  I  altered 
and  cut,  day  after  day,  on  our  play.  This  proce 
dure  was  justified  by  the  result.  Writing  on  this 
subject,  Belasco  declares:  "It  seemed  to  us  that  for 
every  word  we  cut  from  'The  Wife'  we  gained  a 
person  in  the  orchestra."  What  a  pity  the  neces 
sary  pruning  and  adjustment  could  not  have  been 
done  before  the  production!  Then  the  prosperity 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     337 

of  a  theatre  and  of  many  persons  would  not  have 
been  endangered.  The  sum  of  more  than  $50,000, 
owed  to  the  Tiffany  Studios,  was  paid  in  full,  out 
of  the  profits  of  "The  Wife,"  and  the  directors  of 
the  corporation,  as  also  Daniel  Frohman,  were  so 
well  satisfied  with  the  ultimate  result  that  Belasco 
and  De  Mille  were  commissioned  to  write  the  next 
new  play  required,  for  the  following  season,  which 
was  to  be  one  constructed  as  a  starring  vehicle  for 
Edward  H.  Sothern,  who  had  been  "inherited"  by 
the  Lyceum  management  under  a  contract  with 
Helen  Dauvray. 

REVISION    OF    "SHE." 

The  first  dramatic  work  done  by  Belasco,  after 
he  had  dismissed  "The  Wife,"  was  a  revision  of  a 
drama  called  "She,"  made  by  William  H.  Gillette 
on  the  basis  of  Rider  Haggard's  novel  of  that 
name.  This  was  produced,  November  29,  1887,  at 
Niblo's  Garden,  New  York,  by  Isaac  B.  Rich  and 
Al.  Hayman. 

The  signal  talent  of  Haggard  is  not  well  dis 
played  in  "She," — in  which  the  tone  is  sensual  and 
the  literary  art  inferior,  and  in  which,  indeed,  it  can 
fairly  be  said  that  the  author  has  collected  ma 
terials  and  outlined  a  plan  for  a  work  of  fic 
tion,  rather  than  that  he  has  adequately  utilized  his 


338    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

materials  and  plan.  There  is  in  it  little  indi 
cation  of  distinctive  intellectual  character  or  of 
scrutinizing  artistic  revision,  and,  although  con 
temporary  with  both  Worcester's  and  Webster's 
"Unabridged,"  the  writer  frequently  informs  his 
readers  that  words  are  wanting  to  describe  the 
objects  he  has  undertaken  to  portray.  "She," 
therefore,  notwithstanding  that  it  contains  attri 
butes  of  merit,  is,  as  Haggard  left  it,  a  verbose 
and  chaotic  narrative,  presenting  the  apotheosis  of 
woman  as  a  handsome  animal.  The  story,  how 
ever,  presents  melodramatic  points  tributary  to 
situation  and  several  of  those  points  were  utilized 
for  stage  presentment  and  invested  with  picturesque 
scenery.  The  play  begins  with  a  shipwreck  on  the 
coast  of  Africa.  "Set  waves"  swung  on  obvious 
cordage.  A  "profile"  boat  went  to  pieces  on  a  rock. 
Lightnings  flashed.  A  quantity  of  real  water  was 
projected  into  the  air.  And  a  band  of  adventur 
ous  seekers  after  the  inscrutable  and  awful  female 
personality  known  as  She  were  rescued,  to  pass 
through  manifold  adventures,  including  encounters 
with  African  cannibals  and  terminating  with  a  quest 
for  the  Fire  of  Life,  in  which,  when  found,  the 
mystical  Princess  was  destroyed.  Particular  re 
cital  of  the  incidents  of  the  stage  adaptation  is 
not  requisite  here:  the  novel,  extraordinarily  pop- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     339 

ular  in  its  day,  is  still  accessible  to  the  curious. 
The  form  adopted  by  Gillette  in  framing  his  his 
trionic  synopsis  of  the  book  is  that  of  genuine,  old- 
fashioned  melodrama, — the  form  of  theatrical  spec 
tacle  interblended  with  music  that  was  in  fashion  a 
century  ago.  There  is  an  opening  chorus.  African 
savages,  auxiliary  to  the  proceedings,  chant.  The 
heroine  woos  her  favorite  in  a  melodious  adjuration, 
and  bursts  into  song  on  her  lover's  breast.  Music 
is  introduced  in  the  most  unlikely  places.  Even  the 
cannibals  utter  their  stomachs  in  harmonious  howls, 
preparatory  to  a  feast  on  the  flesh  of  man.  "She," 
as  adapted  by  Gillette,  was  in  part  reconstructed 
and  improved  by  Belasco,  to  whom  such  curious 
fabrics  of  more  or  less  ridiculous  spectacle  had  been 
familiar  in  his  early  days  and  who  readily  rectified 
its  technical  defects.  "It  was  simply  a  matter  of 
curtailing  and  readjusting,"  he  afterward  wrote; 
"when  the  scenes  and  situations  were  rehearsed 
again  it  was  found  that  we  had  a  very  good 
play":  the  accuracy  of  the  latter  statement,  of 
course,  depends  on  the  standard  of  merit  applied 
in  determining  what  constitutes  a  "good  play." 
Belasco  did  not  revise  "She"  until  near  the  end 
of  the  New  York  engagement,  that  is,  about  the 
middle  of  December,  1887.  The  play  was  trans 
ferred  from  New  York  to  the  Hollis  Street 


340    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Theatre,  Boston,  and  there,  and  elsewhere  in  the 
country,  it  was  prosperously  presented. 

"LORD  CRUMLEY"  AND  E.  H.  SOTHERN. 

During  the  early  part  of  1888  Belasco  did  some 
work  as  a  teacher  of  acting,  bestowing,  at  the 
request  of  Daniel  Frohman,  special  attention  on 
instruction  of  Mrs.  James  G.  Blaine,  Jr.  (Mary 
Nevin),  a  person  of  social  influence — and  therefore 
potentially  valuable  to  the  management  of  the 
Lyceum  Theatre — whose  aspirations  for  a  theatrical 
career  were  terminated  by  serious  illness.  Toward 
Spring  the  necessity  of  executing  the  commission 
to  write  a  new  play  for  the  use  of  Sothern,  at 
the  Lyceum,  compelled  Belasco  to  lay  aside  all 
other  labor,  and,  about  March-April,  in  company 
with  De  Mille,  he  repaired  to  Echo  Lake,  and 
there,  after  trying  and  rejecting  many  dramatic 
schemes,  the  co-mates  in  authorship  finally  hit  upon 
one  to  their  liking.  By  about  July  1  (1888)  they 
had  practically  completed  a  new  play,  entitled 
"Lord  Chumley,"  and  they  returned  to  New 
York  in  order  that  Belasco  might  put  it  into 
rehearsal.  In  doing  this  he  had  to  confront  an 
unexpected  '  difficulty :  Sothern,  who  had  expressed 
himself  as  satisfied  on  reading  the  scenario  of  the 
play,  did  not  like  the  part  of  Chumley  in  the  fin- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     341 

ished  work  and,  as  Mr.  Frohman  informed  the  dis 
gruntled  authors,  was  averse  to  undertaking  it. 
Belasco  writes  of  this:  "'But  the  character's  Soth- 
ern,'  I  said;  'every  look,  gesture,  and  exclamation 
fits  him  like  a  glove!'  ...  Of  course,  it  was  the  old 
story  all  over  again;  an  actor  never  knows  what  is 
best  suited  to  him."  The  latter  notion  is,  I  think, 
extravagant:  for  every  instance  wherein  an  actor  has 
made  a  notable  success  in  playing  a  part  against 
his  judgment  and  will  a  dozen  could  be  cited 
wherein  the  actor  has  known  his  powers  and  made 
his  distinctive  success  by  following  his  own  judg 
ment  in  selection  of  the  part  to  be  played.  "You 
are  mistaken,"  Charles  Burke  told  a  friend,  who 
had  exclaimed  to  him,  in  a  burst  of  admiration, 
"You  don't  know  what  a  good  actor  you  are!", 
"I  know  exactly  what  a  good  actor  I  am,  and 
exactly  what  I  can  do  on  the  stage."  Sothern,  as 
his  later  career  has  shown,  cherished  ambition  to 
act  parts  of  a  very  different  character  from  Chum- 
ley,  but,  fortunately  for  all  concerned,  he  con 
sented  to  undertake  that  part,  after  Belasco  had 
expounded  it  to  him;  the  rehearsals  were  carried  on 
with  diligence  and,  on  August  21,  1888,  "Lord 
Chumley"  was  produced,  for  the  first  time  any 
where,  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre. 

The  play  of  "Lord  Chumley"  is  a  mosaic  of  many 


342     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

old  dramatic  situations,  culled  from  various  earlier 
plays,  revamped  and  intercalated  so  as  to  make  a 
sequent  story,  and  it  can  rightly  be  designated  a 
comedy,  tinged  with  melodrama  and  farce.  Chum- 
ley  is  a  young  English  lord,  a  gentleman  by  nature 
as  well  as  birth;  simple,  generous,  sincere,  intrepid, 
and  acute,  but  hampered  by  shyness,  an  impediment 
in  his  speech,  and  a  superficial  aspect  of  inanity. 
He  impoverishes  himself  in  order  to  serve  a  friend, 
Hugh  Butterworth,  an  imprudent  young  fellow, 
an  officer  in  the  British  Army,  who  is  being  vic 
timized  by  a  specious  French  rascal.  This  malig 
nant  person  wishes  to  wed  the  officer's  sister, 
Miranda,  and  by  threatening  to  ruin  that  young 
man's  reputation  has  extorted  from  her  a  prom 
ise  of  marriage.  The  lady  is  beloved  by  Chum- 
ley,  who  intervenes  and  prevents  the  marriage, 
incidentally  vindicating  himself  in  her  opinion:  she 
has  at  first  believed  him  to  be  a  fool  and  later  a 
blackguard,  but  she  ends  by  perceiving  his  intrin 
sically  fine  character  and  reciprocating  his  love. 
In  the  course  of  his  variegated  experience  he  con 
trives  to  make  himself  misunderstood  in  attempting 
to  tell  his  troubles  to  a  sympathetic  spinster;  he 
dwells  without  repining  in  the  squalor  of  a  miser 
able  lodging,  to  which  his  generous  self-impover 
ishment  has  reduced  him;  he  confronts  a  desperate 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     343 

burglar  in  the  dark  and,  armed  only  with  a  cig 
arette-holder  shaped  like  a  pistol,  he  fools,  cows, 
and  overcomes  him;  he  exhibits  astounding  physical 
prowess  in  conflict  with  a  burly  antagonist,  and  he 
displays  amazing  mental  acuteness  in  penetrating 
and  defeating  the  malevolent  purposes  of  a 
villain. 

Belasco,  writing  of  himself  and  his  co-worker 
De  Mille,  says:  "For  a  month  we  talked  over  Soth- 
ern's  play  without  a  single  idea.  At  this  time 
[1887-'88]  pistol  cigarette-holders  came  into  fash 
ion.  I  bought  one  in  the  village  [near  Echo  Lake] 
to  amuse  the  De  Mille  children,  but  forgot  to  take 
it  out  of  my  hip  pocket.  The  next  day  as  De  Mille 
and  I  were  out  walking  in  the  snow  I  leaned  against 
a  tree,  drew  the  toy  pistol  from  my  pocket,  and 
called  out:  'Stand  and  deliver,'  and  in  a  flash  the 
foolish  situation  gave  us  the  first  idea  for  what 
was  afterward  called  'Chumley.'  We  used  this 
serio-comic  situation  in  our  Second  Act,  where 
Chumley  holds  a  real  thief  at  bay  with  his  cigarette- 
case."  That,  no  doubt,  is  a  correct  account  of  the 
"first  idea";  others  came  from  Belasco's  ample  store 
of  recollections.  Chumley ,  as  a  character,  is  a 
remote  variant  of  the  elder  Sothern's  Dundreary, 
superimposed  on  H.  J.  Byron's  Sir  Simon  Simple, 
in  "Not  Such  a  Fool  as  He  Looks," — which  was 


344     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

written  for  Charles  Mathews.  In  the  development 
of  the  plot  in  which  he  is  implicated  and  the  treat 
ment  of  the  character  there  is  much  reminiscence — 
touches  of  John  Mildmay,  in  his  scene  with  Captain 
Hawksley,  in  "Still  Waters  Run  Deep";  of  Harry 
Jasper,  in  "A  Bachelor  of  Arts";  of  Sir  Bashful 
Constant,  Arthur  Chilton,  Mr.  Toots,,  and,  in  par 
ticular,  Eliott  Gray,  in  his  scene  with  Myles 
McKenna,  in  "Rosedale."  All  the  situations  indi 
cated  have  long  been  used  as  common  property. 
The  merit  of  the  play  consists  in  the  effectiveness 
with  which  those  situations  are  employed  and  in 
the  bright,  fluent,  and  generally  telling  dialogue 
with  which  they  are  interfused.  Chumley  is  an 
extremely  long  part.  Sothern's  performance  was 
exceptionally  good,  and  it  was  received  by  public 
and  press  with  copious  approbation.  The  success 
of  the  play  was  unequivocal:  it  held  the  stage  till 
November  11.  On  November  13  Pinero's  "  Sweet 
Lavender"  succeeded  it,  but  with  the  production 
of  that  excellent  drama  at  the  Lyceum  Belasco  had, 
practically,  nothing  to  do:  "Sweet  Lavender"  was 
sent  to  New  York  from  London  and  was  "put  on" 
in  exact  accordance  with  the  prompt-copy  as  pre 
pared  by  the  author  when  making  Edward  Terry's 
presentment  of  it. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     345 

This  was  the  original  cast  of  "Lord  Chumley," 
at  the  Lyceum: 

Adam  Butterworth. ,. .... . ., >.  .C.  B.  Bishop. 

Lieut.  Hugh  Butterworth Frank  Carlyle. 

Gasper  Le  Sage Herbert  Archer. 

Tommy  Tucker Rowland  Buckstone. 

Blink  Bank George  Backus. 

Winterbottom A.   W.   Gregory. 

Eleanor Belle    Archer. 

Jessie  Deane Dora  Leslie. 

Lady  Alexander  Barker Fannie  Addison. 

Meg Etta  Hawkins. 

Miranda Rosa  Stark. 

Lord  George  Cholmondeley  (known  as  "Chumley") 

E.  H.  Sothern. 

"THE    KAFFIR    DIAMOND." 

In  the  period  from  August  21,  1888,  to  Novem 
ber  19,  1889,  Belasco's  labors  were  many  and 
various.  As  soon  as  "Lord  Chumley"  had  been 
produced,  and  while  yet  he  was  engaged,  as  cus 
tomary  with  him,  in  smoothing  and  improving  that 
new  venture,  he  began  work,  for  Louis  Aldrich,  on 
revision  of  a  play  by  Edward  J.  Swartz,  called 
"The  Kaffir  Diamond,"  which  had  been  written  for 
Aldrich,  as  a  starring  vehicle.  That  play  is  a 
wild  and  whirling  kaleidoscopic  melodrama,  devised 
for  the  pleasure  of  those  theatre-goers  who  seek 
entertainment  in  extravagant  situations  and  violent, 


346     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

tumultuous  actions, — a  play  of  the  class  typified  by 
"The  Gambler's  Fate;  or,  The  Doomed  House," 
"The  Lonely  Man  of  the  Ocean,"  "The  King  of  the 
Opium  Ring,"  etc., — and  Belasco's  work  on  it  must 
have  caused  him  to  remember,  perhaps  with  amuse 
ment,  his  fabrication  of  many  similar  "shockers,"  in 
his  early  San  Francisco  and  Virginia  City  days. 
The  central  character  of  "The  Kaffir  Diamond,"  a 
person  named  Shoulders,  is  a  misanthropical  drunk 
ard,  made  so  by  suffering,  who  inhabits  a  miasmatic 
swamp,  in  Africa,  subsisting  largely  on  liquor  and 
the  hope  of  revenge.  This  person  believes  himself 
to  have  been  robbed,  in  days  of  prosperity,  of  wife 
and  daughter,  by  a  Colonel  in  the  British  Army, 
and,  in  seeking  for  revenge,  he  nearly  effects  the 
ruin  of  a  woman  who  proves  to  be  his  long-lost 
daughter,  and  he  succeeds  in  confining  the  detested 
Colonel  in  the  poisonous  swamp,  where  he  intends 
that  he  shall  miserably  perish,  only  to  discover  that, 
instead  of  being  his  wronger,  that  gallant  soldier  is 
his  best  friend.  Blended  with  this  plot,  or,  rather, 
tangled  into  it,  is  a  double-barrelled  love  story,  the 
theft  of  a  diamond  of  priceless  worth,  and  a  medley 
of  incidents  incorporative  of  brawling,  lynching, 
and  miscellaneous  riot.  Aldrich,  as  Shoulders,  per 
sonated  in  a  surprisingly  simple  manner  the 
wretched  victim  of  weak  character,  strong  drink, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     347 

misfortune,  and  mistaken  enmity,  giving  a  perform 
ance  which,  while  devoid  of  imaginative  quality, 
was  nevertheless  effective,  because  of  the  innate 
sturdy  manliness  of  the  actor  and  of  his  artistically 
rough  evincement  of  strong  emotion  blended  with 
human  weakness.  This  was  the  cast: 

Shoulders Louis   Aldrich. 

Robert  Douglas M.  J.  Jordan. 

Downey  Dick Joseph  A.  Wilkes. 

Bye-Bye Johnny  Booker. 

Col.  Richard  Grantley Fraser  Coulter. 

Walter  Douglas Charles  Mackay. 

Sergt.  Tim  Meehan Charles  Bowser. 

Millicent  Douglas Dora   Goldthwaite. 

Alice  Rodney Isabelle   Evesson. 

Sanderson J.  H.  Hutchinson. 

Orderly William   McCloy. 

Courier M.  C.  Williams. 

Mme.  Biff Adele   Palma. 

Belasco  participated  in  the  work  of  placing  "The 
Kaffir  Diamond"  on  the  stage,  receiving  a  payment 
of  $300,  and  on  September  11,  1888,  it  was  acted, 
in  a  handsome  setting,  at  the  Broadway  Theatre, 
New  York,  but  it  was  unsuccessful  and  it  lasted  only 
till  October  13. 

LOUIS    ALDRICH. 

Louis  Aldrich  (1843-1901)  was  a  good  actor. 
He  was  a  Hebrew,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  his  true 


348     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

name  was  Lyon.  In  childhood  he  was  known  on 
the  stage  as  Master  Moses,  and  also  as  Master 
McCarthy.  His  first  appearance  was  made,  Sep 
tember,  1855,  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  as  Glo'ster,  in 
scenes  from  "King  Richard  III."  He  performed 
with  the  Marsh  Juvenile  Comedians,  beginning  in 
1858,  for  about  five  years.  His  last  professional 
appearance  occurred,  March  25,  1899,  at  the  New 
York  Academy  of  Music,  as  Colonel  Swift,  in 
Anson  Pond's  play  of  "Her  Atonement."  His 
most  striking  performance  was  that  of  Joe  Saun- 
ders,  in  Bartley  Campbell's  "My  Partner,"  first 
produced  at  the  Union  Square  Theatre,  New  York, 
September  16,  1879.  Belasco,  long  afterward 
(1900-'01),  arranged  to  have  Aldrich  star  in  that 
play,  under  his  management,  but  the  ill-health  of 
the  actor  compelled  abandonment  of  the  plan.  The 
death  of  Aldrich,  caused  by  apoplexy,  occurred  at 
Kennebunkport,  Maine,  June  17,  1901. 


THE    SCHOOL    OF    ACTING. 

During  most  of  the  time  of  his  association  with 
the  Lyceum  Theatre  (1886-1890)  Belasco  inciden 
tally  labored  as  an  instructor  in  the  School  of  Act 
ing,  founded  by  Steele  Mackaye,  and  conducted  in 
connection  with  that  theatre,  and  he  achieved  some 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     349 

excellent  results.  Being  a  teacher,  his  view  of  the 
importance  of  the  school  is,  I  believe,  somewhat 
exaggerated,  and  also  he  mistakenly  supposes,  or 
seems  to  suppose,  that  all  instructors  can  be  as  suc 
cessful  in  their  histrionic  tuition  as  he  has  fre 
quently  been.  His  recollections  of  this  part  of  his 
activity,  when  associated  with  the  Lyceum  Theatre 
School,  have  been  interestingly  written  by  himself,  as 
follows : 

"During  the  early  days  of  my  association  with  Mr.  Froh- 
man  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre  much  of  my  time  was  occu 
pied  with  my  duties  in  connection  with  Franklin  Sargent's 
Dramatic  School.  Mr.  Sargent  had  leased  the  classroom, 
hall  and  stage,  which  Steele  Mackaye  had  designed  when 
the  Lyceum  Theatre  was  built.  I  am  very  proud  to  give 
the  names  of  some  of  the  pupils  who  made  up  my  classes: 
Alice  Fischer,  Blanche  Walsh,  Charles  Bellows,  Maude 
Banks,  George  Fawcett,  Harriet  Ford,  Emma  Sheridan, 
Dorothy  Dorr,  Wilfred  Buckland,  George  Foster  Platt, 
Jennie  Eustace,  Grace  Kimball,  Cora  Maynard,  William 
Ordway  Partridge,  Robert  Taber,  Lincoln  Wagnalls,  E. 
Wales  Winter,  White  Whittlesey,  and  Edith  Chapman. 
This  list  stands  as  a  refutation  of  the  statement  that  the 
school  of  acting  is  not  of  benefit  in  preparing  for  the 
stage.  .  .  . 

"A  graphic  picture  of  Robert  Taber's  successful  and 
almost  superhuman  effort  to  overcome  his  physical  disad 
vantages  will  remain  with  me  always.  One  day,  as  I  sat 
in  my  studio,  he  limped  in — pale,  delicate — almost  an 
invalid  in  appearance.  An  illness  in  childhood  had  left 


350    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

him  with  a  shortened  leg,  so  that  he  was  obliged  to  wear 
a  shoe  with  a  sole  at  least  two  inches  thick.  After  intro 
ducing  himself,  he  told  me  of  his  ambition.  'Do  you  think 
I  can  possibly  become  an  actor  with  these?'  he  asked, 
pointing  to  his  bent  knee  and  drooping  shoulder.  The 
tragic  pathos  in  his  face  aroused  my  sympathy  and  I 
asked  him  to  read  to  me.  All  his  selections  were  from 
the  old  classics,  which  he  loved, — like  many  another  youth  I 
have  met,  with  the  spell  of  the  stage  upon  him.  So  he 
read  to  me  scenes  from  'King  Richard  III,'  'Julius  Caesar,' 
and  'Romeo  and  Juliet.'  His  reading  was  distinct,  his 
interpretations  spirited.  A  flash  of  genius  ran  through 
the  fibre  of  the  boy;  there  was  strength  and  impressive- 
ness  in  his  delivery.  He  was  thoroughly  exhausted  when 
he  had  finished,  and  I  was  in  a  quandary.  'Surely  I  can't 
lengthen  his  leg,'  I  thought;  'yet  he  wants  to  play  juvenile 
leads;  he  wants  to  play  Romeo T  I  saw  at  once  that  Rob 
ert  Taber  was  not  fitted  to  be  a  pantaloon  actor,  a  par 
lor  figure,  for  there  was  a  flourish  and  breadth  to  his  style 
of  delivery  that  dedicated  him  to  the  costume  play. 

"He  must  have  seen  the  perplexity  in  my  face,  for  he 
said:  'Mr.  Belasco,  I  can  raise  $20,000,  which  you  can 
have  if  you  will  help  me.  You  have  assisted  stammerers !' 
I  couldn't  tell  him  that  a  limp  was  a  different  matter. 
Nevertheless,  I  resolved  to  see  what  I  could  do  for  him. 
'I'll  not  take  a  cent  of  your  money,'  I  said,  'but  if  you 
will  do  as  I  tell  you,  we'll  see  what  can  be  done.'  He 
agreed  and  there  followed  a  regular  campaign  against  a 
limp.  It  was  my  idea  to  eliminate  the  defect  through  exer 
cises.  He  worked  faithfully.  He  walked,  he  lay  on  his 
back,  practising  stretching  exercises;  he  studied  the  bal 
ancing  of  his  body,  throwing  the  weight  so  that  his  short 
leg  could  be  brought  down  slowly  to  the  floor,  without  any 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     351 

perceptible  stooping  of  the  shoulders.  I  had  a  shoe  made, 
with  a  deep  inner  sole,  to  take  the  place  of  the  unsightly 
shoe  he  wore  when  he  first  called  upon  me.  After  a  year 
of  daily  work,  when  he  was  ready  to  enter  the  school  of 
acting,  his  limp  was  so  slight  that  it  was  barely  percep 
tible!  When  he  became  leading  man  for  Julia  Marlowe, 
whom  he  afterwards  married,  who  could  have  detected  his 
deformity?  His  is  a  most  remarkable  instance,  and  I  have 
often  recalled  it.  For  it  is  an  example  of  what  ambition 
and  perseverance  can  accomplish,  but  few  artists  would 
be  willing  to  practise  the  self-denial  and  go  through  such 
rigorous  training."  [Robert  Taber  was  born  in  Staten 
Island,  New  York,  in  1865,  and  he  died,  of  consumption, 
in  the  Adirondacks,  in  1904. — W.  W.] 


THE  TRUE  SCHOOL  IS  THE  STAGE. 

Observation  has  convinced  me  that,  while  the 
accomplishments  of  elocution,  dancing,  fencing, 
deportment,  and  the  art  of  making  up  the  face  (all 
of  which  are  highly  useful  on  the  stage)  can  be, 
and  are,  well  taught  in  some  Schools  of  Acting, 
the  one  true,  thoroughly  efficient  school,  the  only 
one  in  which  the  art  actually  can  be  acquired,  is  the 
Stage  itself.  A  master  of  stage  direction,  as 
Belasco  is,  can  direct  novices  in  rehearsals,  and, 
if  they  possess  natural  histrionic  capability,  can,  in 
that  way,  materially  help  to  prepare  them  for  the 
Stage;  but  they  cannot,  in  that  way,  be  taught  to 
act.  An  indispensable  part  of  any  dramatic  per- 


352     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

formance  is  an  audience:  without  it,  a  novice  can 
not  learn  to  act,  nor  will  it  suffice  to  have  an  occa 
sional  audience.  The  decisive  ground  for  objec 
tion  to  the  Schools  of  Acting,  moreover,  is  that, 
practically  without  exception,  they  are  merely  com 
mercial  enterprises:  they  accept,  regardless  of  apti 
tude,  every  student  who  applies,  because  they  want 
the  fees.  Belasco  names  nineteen  pupils  who 
studied  under  him,  some  of  whom  have  become 
proficient  actors.  No  doubt  others  could  be  named. 
What  then?  Belasco  is  a  highly  exceptional  instance 
of  an  accomplished,  enthusiastic,  practical  instructor, 
possessing  the  exceedingly  rare  faculty  of  com 
municating  knowledge.  "I'll  not  take  a  cent  of 
your  money,"  he  told  Taber.  How  many  other 
instructors  in  acting  are  as  scrupulous?  Belasco 
applied  the  method  of  actual  stage  management  to 
the  instruction  of  the  stage  beginners,  and,  in  some 
instances,  with  good  effect;  but  it  is  to  be  remem 
bered  that  every  one  of  his  pupils  who  has  since 
succeeded  as  an  actor  (and  not  by  any  means  all 
of  them  have)  would  have  succeeded  as  well,  or 
better,  if  employed  in  the  first  place  in  minor  ca 
pacities  in  actual  companies;  and  that  against  the 
number  of  graduates  from  Schools  of  Acting  who 
have  been  successful  in  the  Theatre  should  be  set 
the  much  larger  number  of  graduates — never  men- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     353 

tioned — who,  having  studied  in  those  schools,  paid 
for  tuition  and  expended  time,  have  never  been 
able  to  act  or  even  to  earn  a  dollar  in  the  Theatre. 


A   REVIVAL    OF    "ELECTRA." 

After  producing  "The  Kaffir  Diamond,"  and  dur- 
ing  the  run  of  "Sweet  Lavender,"  Belasco  devoted 
himself  assiduously  to  The  Academy  of  Dramatic 
Art  (that  being  the  correct  name  of  the  institution, 
which,  earlier,  had  been  called  The  New  York 
School  of  Acting),  where,  in  association  with 
Franklin  H.  Sargent,  who  was  the  official  head  of 
the  school,  and  De  Mille,  he  prepared  an  English 
version  of  the  "Electra"  of  Sophocles.  This  was 
presented  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre,  on  March  11, 
1889,  by  students  of  the  Academy,  and  it  was 
received  with  favor. 

Writing  about  this  production,  Belasco  says: 

"The  pupils  of  the  Sargent  School  entered  with  great 
enthusiasm  into  the  preparations  for  our  school  produc 
tions,  and  we  have  had  many  notable  successes.  I  believe 
I  am  safe  in  saying  that  one  of  these,  the  'Electra'  of 
Sophocles,  was  the  most  remarkable  exhibition  of  amateur 
art  ever  seen  in  this  country.  It  was  so  accurate,  so 
scholarly,  so  classical  in  every  respect,  that  we  were 
invited  to  present  it  before  the  students  of  Harvard  Uni 
versity,  as  an  illustration  of  the  beauty  and  strength  of 


354     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

ancient  dramatic  literature.  The  faculty  and  students  were 
enthusiastic  in  its  praise,  and  we  felt  highly  honored  that 
such  distinction  had  been  conferred  upon  us.  I  under 
stood  then  that  it  was  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
Harvard  that  an  amateur  company  had  been  transferred 
from  another  city." 

On  the  occasion  of  that  amateurs'  performance 
of  "Electra"  at  the  Lyceum  the  stage  was  divided 
into  two  sections,  the  rear  portion  being  higher 
than  that  in  front,  and  the  latter  being  built  out 
into  the  auditorium  in  somewhat  the  manner  of  the 
"apron"  of  the  old-time  theatres.  This  lower  plat 
form,  in  the  centre  of  which  stood  an  altar  with  a 
fire  on  it,  was  reserved  for  the  Chorus.  The  per 
sons  represented  in  the  tragedy  stood  or  moved 
upon  the  elevated  rear  portion  of  the  stage,  which 
showed  the  entrance  to  a  Grecian  house,  with  a  view 
of  countryside  visible  to  the  left  and  to  the  right. 
Footlights  were  not  employed,  the  higher  level  of 
the  stage  being  suffused  with  strong,  white  light 
which  clearly  revealed  the  characters  thereon 
depicted,  while  the  Chorus  was  kept  in  Rembrandt- 
like  shadow.  That  Chorus  comprised  nine  young 
women,  in  classic  Grecian  array,  who  declaimed  and 
sang  commentary  upon,  and  advice  to,  the  persons 
of  the  play  proper.  It  should  be  noted  in  passing 
that, — without  extravagance  and  affectation, — all 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     355 

the  much  admired  and  highly  extolled  "modern 
novelties"  of  simplicity  in  stage  settings  and  light 
ing  displayed  by  Mr.  Granville  Barker,  at  Wallack's 
Theatre,  in  1915,  were  used  by  Belasco,  in  present 
ing  "Electra," — twenty-eight  years  earlier!  The 
principal  parts  in  the  Greek  tragedy  were  thus  cast: 

Electra Grace  Hamilton. 

Clytemnestra Edith  A.  Chapman. 

jEgisthus Percy  West. 

Orestes White  Whittlesey. 


MANY    NEW    TASKS. 

Concurrent  with  his  work  in  connection  with  the 
amateur  presentment  of  the  Greek  tragedy  Belasco 
had  also  prepared  for  Daniel  Frohman's  stage  a 
revival  of  Sardou's  "Ferreol,"  produced  at  the 
Union  Square  Theatre,  March  21,  1876.  Under  the 
name  of  "The  Marquis,"  and  under  Belasco's  stage 
direction,  it  was  acted  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre,  by 
the  stock  company  of  that  house,  on  March  18, 
1889,  but  it  proved  a  failure.  It  was  withdrawn 
after  one  week,  and  on  March  29  a  revival  was 
effected  there  of  "The  Wife,"— with  the  original  cast, 
except  that  Louise  Dillon  succeeded  Vida  Croly 
as  Agnes.  "The  Wife"  ran  till  May  18,  when  the 
Lyceum  closed  for  the  season.  Belasco,  however, 


356     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

did  not  finish  his  work  with  the  revival  of  that 
play.  Mr.  Gillette  had  made  a  drama  of  the  novel 
of  "Robert  Elsmere,"  by  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward, 
and,  gratified  by  the  assistance  Belasco  had  ren 
dered  in  the  vivification  of  "She,"  he  secured  his 
services,  with  consent  of  the  Lyceum  management, 
as  stage  manager,  to  set  that  drama  on  the  stage. 
This  was  accomplished,  April  29,  at  the  Union 
Square  Theatre. 

With  the  close  of  the  season  of  1888-'89  at  the 
Lyceum,  in  May,  Belasco  found  himself  once  more 
commissioned,  in  association  with  De  Mille,  to  write 
a  new  play  with  which  to  open  that  theatre,  the 
following  season,  and  thus  again  under  the  painful 
necessity  of  producing  a  work  of  dramatic  art  not 
as  a  matter  of  artistic  expression  but  under  com 
pulsion  of  necessity.  This  task  seemed  very  for 
midable.  He  had  worked  hard.  His  health  was 
impaired.  His  spirits  were  low.  His  physician  had 
ordered  that  he  should  take  a  long  rest.  It  is  a 
good  prescription,  and  doubtless,  in  most  cases,  it 
is  the  best  that  can  be  given;  but  few  of  the  weary 
workers  of  the  world  can  take  advantage  of  it,  and 
no  workers  are  more  strictly  bound  to  incessant 
routine  duty  than  those  who  wield  the  pen  in  ser 
vice  of  the  Theatre.  In  these  unfavorable  circum 
stances  Belasco  again  repaired  to  the  peaceful  seclu- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     357 

sion  of  De  Mille's  home  at  Echo  Lake,  and  there 
the  two  dramatists  once  more  sought  to  strike  a 
spark  of  inspiration  into  the  tinder  of  dramatic 
material.  The  result  of  this  confabulation  was, 
eventually,  the  comedy  of  "The  Charity  Ball." 


"THE    CHARITY    BALL." 

With  regard  to  the  question  as  to  what  sub 
jects  are  best  suited  for  treatment  in  the  Drama, 
Belasco,  writing  (February  9,  1909)  to  Mr.  Wil 
liam  Bullock,  relative  to  the  plays  of  the  late  J.  M. 
Synge,  made  this  significant  statement:  "I  think 
that  domestic  life  offers  more  possibilities  to  the 
playwright  than  any  other  theme." 

Those  possibilities  (as  he  understands  them), 
which  he  has  utilized  in  several  plays,  are  specially 
exemplified  in  "The  Charity  Ball," — so  named 
because  its  purpose  is  to  inculcate  the  virtue  of  tak 
ing  a  charitable  view  of  human  infirmity,  and  also 
because  one  important  scene  of  it  occurs  at  a  ball 
given  for  charity,  in  the  New  York  Metropolitan 
Opera  House.  It  rightfully  ranks  among  the  best 
existent  dramas  of  its  didactic  and  benevolent  class. 

The  principal  characters  in  "The  Charity  Ball" 
are  the  Rev.  John  van  Buren,  his  brother,  Dick  van 
Buren,  Ann  Cruger,  and  Phyllis  Lee.  The  Eev. 


358     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

John  is  Rector  of  a  fashionable  church,  in  New 
York,  while  Dick  is  a  Wall  Street  stock  gambler, 
a  person  of  exceptional  ability,  naturally  amiable, 
but  weak  in  character,  self-indulgent,  and  wild;  he 
is  harassed  by  business  cares  and  is  breaking  under 
the  strain  of  his  speculative  pursuits.  Dick  has 
seduced  Phyllis  Lee,  an  orphan,  and,  though  he  is 
represented  as  being  truly  fond  of  her,  has  dis 
carded  her,  with  the  purpose  of  marrying  Ann 
Cruger,  who  is  an  heiress.  Ann  Cruger,  secretly,  is 
enamoured  of  the  Rev.  John.  The  Rector  befriends 
Phyllis,  not,  however,  being  aware  of  her  misfort 
une  and  miserable  plight  as  the  victim  of  his 
brother's  duplicity,  and  the  parson  soon  succumbs 
to  her  charms,  fancies  himself  in  love  with  her,  and 
becomes  a  wooer.  His  method  of  courtship  is  indi 
rect.  Being  inscrutably, — and  impossibly, — blind  to 
the  amorous  attachment  of  Ann  Cruger,  he  seeks 
the  aid  of  that  lady  to  win  for  him  the  love  of 
Phyllis.  Then  occurs  the  gay  scene  of  the  Charity 
Ball,  in  the  course  of  which  a  painful  interview  hap 
pens  between  Phyllis  and  Dick  van  Buren,  sup 
plemented  by  Phyllis's  revelation  to  Ann  Cruger  of 
her  relation  to  Dick,  his  admission  to  Ann  of  his 
misconduct,  and  her  offer  to  Phyllis  of  an  asylum 
in  her  own  home. 

The  wretched  Phyllis,  immediately  after  the  ball, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEL  AS  CO     359 

distracted  by  her  sense  of  shame  and  degradation, 
speeds  through  night  and  storm  to  her  benefactor, 
the  compassionate  clergyman,  finds  him  in  his 
study,  and,  appealing  to  him  as  a  Christian  min 
ister,  tells  him  her  sad  story  and  supplicates  for 
any  word  of  comfort.  The  arrival  of  Ann  Cruger, 
who  has  followed  her,  prevents  the  disclosure  of 
her  seducer's  name.  The  clergyman,  however,  sur 
mises  the  truth,  and  when  his  brother  Dick  returns 
home  denounces  his  iniquity,  implores  him  to  make 
the  only  possible  reparation,  and  finally  induces  that 
selfish  sinner, — whose  conduct  has  been  that  of  a 
blackguard,  soften  it  how  you  may, — to  wed  the 
girl  whom  he  has  wronged.  A  midnight  marriage 
then  ensues,  the  Rev.  John  uniting  in  holy  matri 
mony  his  dissolute  brother  and  the  woman  whom,  in 
his  blindness,  he  has  himself  wished  to  wed.  This 
scene  is  crowded  with  interest,  incident,  character, 
feeling,  suspense,  and  dramatic  effect.  Later,  Dick 
van  Buren  has  died,  the  Rector  has  discovered  that 
he  loves  Ann  Cruger  and  that  she  loves  him  (and 
not  another,  as  for  a  time  he  feared),  and  general 
felicity  prevails. 

The  surge  of  deep  feeling  in  this  play  is  some 
times  effectively  commingled  with  playful  levity:  its 
pivotal  scene  contains  a  strong,  vital,  emotional 
appeal.  Under  Belasco's  expert  direction  it  was 


360     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

richly  set  on  the  Lyceum  stage  and  it  was  acted 
with  exceptional  felicity  and  force.  Nelson  Wheat- 
croft  played  the  libertine,  Dick  van  Buren,  in  a  way 
to  make  him  credible  and  somewhat  to  redeem  the 
cruel  turpitude  of  his  conduct.  Herbert  Kelcey 
was  duly  grave,  gentle,  manly,  and  eloquent  as  the 
Rector.  Effie  Shannon,  as  Bess,  the  clergyman's 
sister,  with  her  sweet  face  and  agile  figure,  enlivened 
the  representation  by  her  effervescence  of  girlish 
frolic.  Grace  Henderson, — much  commended  as  the 
Effie  Deans  of  this  play, — gave  an  admirable  per 
sonation  of  weak,  bewitching  womanhood.  The  per 
sistent  choice  of  a  singularly  beautiful  and  engag 
ing  woman  for  assumption  of  persons  to  be  aban 
doned  was  again  mysteriously  exemplified  in  the 
casting  of  this  actress  for  Phyllis.  "The  Charity 
Ball"  was  first  produced  at  the  Lyceum,  before  a 
representative  and  cordial  audience,  on  November 
19,  1888,  and  it  had  200  consecutive  performances 
there.  As  originally  produced  the  play  was  thus 
cast: 

Rev.  John  van  Buren . . ., Herbert  Kelcey. 

Dick  van  Buren , ,.i Nelson  Wheatcroft. 

Judge  Peter William  J.  LeMoyne. 

Franklin  Cruger Charles  Walcot. 

Mr.  Creighton , Harry  Allen. 

Alec  Robinson..  Fritz  Williams. 


THE  LIFE  OF  ElAVID  BELASCO     361 

Mr.  Betts R.  J.  Dustan. 

Paxton. Walter  Clark  Bellows. 

Cain Ada  Terry  Madison. 

Jasper .Percy  West. 

Ann  Cruger , Georgia  Cayvan. 

Phyllis  Lee Grace  Henderson. 

Bess  van  Buren Effie  Shannon. 

Mrs.  Camilla  de  Peyster .Mrs.  Charles  Walcot. 

Mrs.  van  Buren , Mrs.  Thomas  Whiff  en. 

Sophie , . Millie  Bowling. 


MRS.    LESLIE    CARTER. 

Belasco's  association  with  Mrs.  Leslie  Carter 
began  in  1889  and  continued  till  1906.  In  some 
ways  it  proved  advantageous,  but  considerably  more 
so  to  her  than  to  him.  The  maiden  name  of  that 
singularly  eccentric  woman, — a  compound  of  many 
opposed  qualities,  sense  and  folly,  sensibility  and 
hardness,  intelligence  and  dulness,  an  affectionate 
disposition  and  an  imperious  temper, — was  Caro 
line  Louise  Dudley.  She  is,  I  understood  from 
herself,  of  Scotch  descent.  She  was  born  in  Louis 
ville,  Kentucky,  June  10,  186(4?).  In  youth  she 
was  deemed  remarkable  for  something  bizarre  and 
alluring  in  her  appearance,  one  special  feature  of 
which  was  her  copious,  resplendent  hair,  of  the  color 
that  is  called  Titian  red.  When  very  young  she 
became  the  wife  (May  26,  1880)  of  Mr.  Leslie 


362    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Carter,  of  Chicago.  The  marriage  proved  unhappy, 
and  in  1889  her  husband  obtained  a  divorce  from 
her  in  that  city.  Comment  on  this  case  of  domestic 
infelicity  is  not  essential  here.  Mr.  Carter  was 
legally  adjudged  to  be  in  the  right  and  Mrs.  Carter 
to  be  in  the  wrong.  Society,  knowing  them  both, 
sided  with  him  and  was  bitterly  condemnatory  of 
her.  She  had  few  friends  and  very  slight  pecuniary 
resources.  She  was  confronted  with  the  necessity 
of  earning  a  living,  and  she  determined  to  adopt 
the  vocation  of  the  Stage.  She  had  participated 
in  private  theatricals,  as  so  many  other  young 
women  in  kindred  circumstances  have  done  before 
emerging  in  the  Theatre,  but  she  possessed  no  train 
ing  for  it.  She  had  heard  of  Belasco's  repute  as 
an  histrionic  instructor,  and  proceeding  with  better 
(or  perhaps  only  more  fortunate)  judgment  than 
she  had  ever  before  or  has  ever  since  displayed,  she 
sought  an  introduction  to  him  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  his  assistance  as  a  teacher.  That  intro 
duction  she  procured  through  Edward  G.  Gillmore 
(18 — 1905),  then  manager  of  the  New  York 
Academy  of  Music,  and  to  Belasco  she  made  known 
her  position  and  her  aspirations.  How  crude  those 
aspirations  were,  and  how  indefinite  her  plans  as 
to  a  stage  career,  can  be  conjectured  from  her 
response  to  the  first  inquiry  he  made, — whether 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    363 

she  wished  to  act  in  tragedy  or  comedy.  "I  am  a 
horsewoman,"  she  replied,  "and  I  wish  to  make 
my  first  entrance  on  a  horse,  leaping  over  a  hurdle." 
No  practical  result  attended  that  interview.  Belasco, 
of  course,  observed  the  peculiarities  of  the  imprac 
ticable  novice  and,  perhaps,  some  glimmering  indi 
cation  of  a  talent  in  her  which  might  be  developed; 
but  he  was  at  that  time  preoccupied  in  collabo 
ration  with  De  Mille  on  "The  Charity  Ball," 
and  Mrs.  Carter's  application  was  put  aside  and, 
by  him,  forgotten.  She  returned  to  Chicago, 
but  she  did  not  falter  in  her  purpose.  A  little 
later,  learning  that  Belasco  had  again  secluded 
himself  at  Echo  Lake  (where,  indeed,  with  De 
Mille,  he  had  sought  a  secluded  refuge  in 
which  to  finish  "The  Charity  Ball"),  she  again 
presented  herself  before  him  and  besought  him  to 
become  her  teacher  and  to  embark  her  on  a  dra 
matic  career. 

"Mrs.  Carter  came  to  me,"  he  said,  "while  De 
Mille  and  I  were  at  work  on  'The  Charity  Ball.' 
I  was  almost  worn  out  the  afternoon  she  arrived 
— not  having  had  any  sleep  to  speak  of  in  two  days 
— and  she  was  almost  hysterical  and  frantic  with 
fatigue,  trouble,  and  anxiety.  She  told  me  much 
of  the  story  of  her  domestic  tragedy, — and  a  heart 
breaking  story  it  is, — and,  as  she  told  it  and  I 


364     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

listened,  I  began  to  see  the  possibilities  in  her, — 
if  only  she  could  act,  on  the  stage,  with  the  same 
force  and  pathos  she  used  in  telling  her  story.  I 
think  a  real  manager  and  dramatist  is,  in  a  way, 
like  a  physician:  a  physician  gets  so  that  he  never 
looks  at  a  human  face  without  noting  whether  it 
shows  signs  of  disease  or  not:  I  never  look  at  a 
face  or  listen  to  a  voice  without  noting  whether 
they  show  signs  of  fitness  for  the  stage.  Mrs. 
Carter  showed  it,  in  every  word  she  spoke,  in 
every  move  she  made:  if  only  she  could  act  like 
that  on  the  stage,  I  caught  myself  thinking.  The 
upshot  of  the  matter  was  that  I  promised  to  give 
her  a  trial,  to  see  whether  she  could  act  as  well  as 
she  could  talk,  and  that,  if  she  stood  the  test,  I'd 
help  her  if  I  could.  After  I  returned  to  New 
York  I  rehearsed  her  in  several  parts  I  had  given 
her;  I  became  convinced  that  she  had  the  makings 
of  a  great  actress  in  her,  and  I  determined  that, 
as  soon  as  I  could,  I  would  take  up  her  training 
and,  if  she  proved  as  talented  as  I  thought  her, 
would  try  to  strike  out  for  myself  and  establish 
her  as  a  star." 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     365 

EPISODE    OF    "THE    PRINCE    AND    THE    PAUPER." 

After  having  safely  launched  "The  Charity  Ball" 
Belasco  turned  to  the  task  of  making  Mrs.  Carter 
an  actress.  It  seems  almost  incredible,  but  such 
was  the  existing  animosity  toward  her  that, — not 
withstanding  his  theatrical  connections  and  although 
he  had  performed  many  friendly  services  for  per 
sons  of  authority  in  the  Theatre,  and  was,  more 
over,  the  stage  manager  and  dramatist  of  the 
Lyceum, — Belasco  was  unable  to  secure  the  use 
of  a  stage  on  which  to  conduct  her  rehearsals.  To 
hire  one,  at  a  high  rental,  might  have  been  prac 
ticable,  but  neither  he  nor  his  pupil  possessed  money 
enough  to  pay  the  rent  of  a  stage.  From  this 
dilemma  an  apparent  means  of  exit  presented  itself. 
The  beautiful  and  popular  child  actress,  Elsie  Les 
lie,  who  had  played  at  the  Lyceum  in  "Editha's 
Burglar"  and  also,  with  phenomenal  success,  in 
"Little  Lord  Fauntleroy,"  had  suggested  to  Samuel 
L.  Clemens,  "Mark  Twain,"  who  was  always 
friendly  toward  her,  a  dramatization  of  his  story 
of  "The  Prince  and  the  Pauper,"  in  which  she 
should  appear,  playing  both  Tom  Canty  and  Prince 
Edward  of  Wales.  The  plan  suggested  by  that 
clever  child  had  been  adopted;  Mrs.  Abby  Sage 
Richardson  had  prepared  an  acting  version  of 


366     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Twain's  book,  and  it  had  been  produced, 
December  24,  1889,  at  the  Park  Theatre,  Phila 
delphia,  under  the  management  of  Daniel  Froh- 
man.  The  venture  was  seen  to  be  auspicious, 
but  the  play  was  found  to  be  inchoate,  and  the 
performances,  aside  from  that  of  the  little  star, 
were  rough  and  unsatisfactory.  Belasco's  need 
of  the  use  of  a  stage  for  rehearsals  of  Mrs.  Carter 
was  known  to  Daniel  Frohman,  who  proposed  to 
him  that  he  should  revise  and  reconstruct  Mrs. 
Richardson's  version  of  "The  Prince  and  the 
Pauper,"  and  also  rehearse  the  company,  so  that 
a  production  might  be  safely  attempted  in  New 
York,  in  return  for  which  services  he  was  promised 
the  use  of  the  stage  of  the  Lyceum  (when  it  was 
not  required  for  the  Lyceum  stock  company) ,  as 
often  as  he  desired,  for  rehearsals  of  Mrs.  Carter. 
To  that  arrangement  Belasco  agreed.  "I  was  get 
ting  only  $35  a  week  for  my  services  at  the 
Lyceum,"  he  told  me,  "aside  from  royalties  on  my 
plays,  and  I  knew  the  work  on  Mrs.  Richardson's 
play  and  the  rehearsals  of  the  company  would  be 
heavy.  But  what  could  I  do?  I  have  often  been 
beaten — but  I  never  give  in.  I  knew  there  was 
the  real  stuff  in  Mrs.  Carter,  but  I  simply  had  to 
have  a  stage;  I  could  make  no  progress  with  her 
till  I  got  one.  So  I  accepted  'Dan's'  offer."  His 


Photograph    by    Barony. 


Belasco's    Collection. 

ELSIE  LESLIE  AS  THE    PAUPER-PRINCE,  IN   "THE  PRINCE 
AND  THE  PAUPER" 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    867 

expectation  that  the  labor  would  prove  onerous  was 
amply  justified.  He  finally  beat  the  play  into  an 
acceptable  shape,  but  his  trials  with  the  company 
were  exasperating.  Belasco,  naturally  amiable  and 
ordinarily  both  diffident  and  shy,  can  be,  and  when 
fully  roused  often  is,  unpleasant  on  the  stage. 
There  came  a  time  when  he  lost  all  patience  with 
"The  Prince  and  the  Pauper"  company,  and,  at 
a  dress  rehearsal,  about  three  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing,  called  the  company  on  the  stage  and,  singly 
and  collectively,  "in  good  set  terms"  and  with 
expletive  sarcasm,  gave  assurance  to  everybody 
present  that  "except  the  little  girl  there  is  not 
one,  no,  not  one  of  the  lot  of  you  that  knows  how 
to  act — or  anything  else!"  This  comprehensive 
denunciation  did  not  redound  to  his  advantage  or 
endear  him  to  the  management  of  the  Lyceum. 
However,  he  finally  got  the  company  drilled  into 
respectable  shape  and  the  play  was  successfully 
produced  in  New  York,  January  20,  1890,  at  the 
Broadway  Theatre,  where  it  ran  till  March  1. 


RETIREMENT    FROM    THE    LYCEUM    THEATRE. 

Belasco,  relieved  of  responsibility  as  to  "The 
Prince  and  the  Pauper,"  turned  at  once  to  the 
instruction  of  his  pupil,  Mrs.  Carter,  and  for 


368     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

a  short  time  rehearsed  her  on  the  Lyceum  stage. 
He  had,  however,  hardly  begun  the  rehearsals, 
for  the  holding  of  which  he  had,  in  equity, 
given  so  much  more  than  it  was  worth,  when  the 
bargain  was,  in  a  singularly  disgraceful  man 
ner,  repudiated, — Belasco  receiving  from  the  man 
ager  of  the  theatre  the  following  terse  communi 
cation: 


(Daniel  Frohman  to  David  Belasco.) 

"The  Lyceum  Theatre,  New  York, 

"February  26,  [1890] 
"Dear  David : — 

"The  Stockholders  request  me  not  to  have  Mrs.  Carter 
rehearse  on  our  stage  any  more. 

"Yours, 

FBOHMAN." 


Belasco's  resentment  was,  naturally  and  properly, 
very  bitter.  He  had  been  for  some  time  conscious 
that  he  was  effectively  "cabined,  cribbed,  confined" 
at  the  Lyceum.  He  had  also  been  for  some  time 
in  negotiation  with  A.  M.  Palmer,  looking  to  a 
presentation  of  the  play  which  he  had  in  mind  as 
a  starring  vehicle  for  Mrs.  Carter.  He  wrote  imme 
diately,  in  response  to  Mr.  Frohman: 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    369 


(David  Eelasco   to  Daniel  Frohman.) 

"New  York,  February  27,  [1890] 
"My  dear  D.  F.:— 

"Your  note  in  reference  to  Mrs.  Carter  received.  When 
Mr.  Palmer  was  informed  that  the  stockholders  objected 
to  Mrs.  Carter's  use  of  the  Lyceum  stage,  he  placed  both 
his  theatres  at  my  disposal.  Therefore,  she  will  trouble 
their  over-sensitive  natures  no  more.  As  far  as  I  myself 
am  concerned,  rest  assured  I  shall  not  forget  their  petty 
treatment  of  me. 

"Sincerely, 

"DAVE." 

It  is  probable  that,  without  the  sting  of  this  con 
temptible  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  stockholders 
of  the  Lyceum  (instigated,  as  I  understand,  by 
complaints  from  Miss  Georgia  Cayvan),  Belasco 
would,  for  some  time  longer,  have  continued 
to  toil  in  his  treadmill  at  that  temple  of  liberal 
virtue.  As  the  ultimate  event  has  proved,  it  was 
fortunate  that  he  was  thus  annoyed.  He  had 
resolved  to  retire  before  he  had  finished  writing 
his  acknowledgment  of  Mr.  Frohman's  note; 
he  sent  in  his  resignation  soon  afterward,  and,  on 
March  27,  1890,  his  association  with  the  Lyceum 
was  ended. 


370     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

A    LONG,    LONG    ROAD. 

One  of  my  earliest  and  best  friends,  the  loved  and 
honored  poet  Longfellow,  sometimes  cited  to  me  a 
maxim  (which,  alas,  I  have  all  my  life  neglected  to 
heed!)  that  "he  who  carries  his  bricks  to  the  building 
of  every  one's  house  will  never  build  one  for  him 
self."  When  Belasco  withdrew  from  the  Lyceum 
Theatre  (March  27,  1890)  he  had  been  for  twenty 
years, — notwithstanding  his  efforts  toward  independ 
ence, — carrying  bricks  to  build  houses  for  other  per 
sons.  He  was  conscious  of  this  mistake  and  dissat 
isfied  with  himself  for  having  made  it,  and  he  now 
resolutely  determined  to  build  for  himself.  During 
the  five  and  one-half  years,  March,  1890,  to  October, 
1895,  he  worked  with  persistent  diligence,  often  in 
the  face  of  seemingly  insurmountable  difficulties,  to 
train  and  establish  the  woman  of  whose  histrionic 
destiny  he  had  assumed  the  direction  and  to  achieve 
for  himself  position  and  power  as  a  theatrical  man 
ager.  He  had  in  mind  for  his  embryonic  star,  Mrs. 
Leslie  Carter,  a  play  which,  ultimately,  was  written 
and  successfully  produced,  under  the  name  of  "The 
Heart  of  Maryland";  but  when  first  he  seriously 
began  the  task  of  training  that  beginner  for  the  stage 
even  the  plan  of  that  play  was  rudimentary,  and 
it  became  imperative  that  he  should  at  once  secure 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    371 

a  practical  vehicle  for  her  use  and  should  get  her 
launched  as  an  actress.  There  could  be  no  question 
of  her  beginning  in  a  minor  capacity  in  some  obscure 
company  and  working  her  way  up:  she  had  no 
thought  of  enduring  any  such  novitiate,  though  she 
was  willing,  in  fact  eager,  to  perform  any  amount 
of  arduous  labor.  But,  with  her,  it  was  a  case  of 
beginning  at  the  top — or  not  at  all.  In  general,  that 
is  a  mistaken  plan;  it  results  in  utter  failure  a  hun 
dred  times  for  once  that  it  succeeds;  yet,  sometimes, 
where  backed  by  genuine  ability  and  indomitable 
courage,  the  course  that  seems  rash  proves  really 
the  most  judicious,  and  for  those  with  the  heart  to 
endure  to  lose  it  proves  the  way  to  win.  The  famous 
soldier  Montrose  wrote  truly: 

"He  either  fears  his  fate  too  much 

Or  his  deserts  are  small, 
That  puts  it  not  unto  the  touch 
To  win  or  lose  it  all." 

To  that  touch  Belasco  and  Mrs.  Carter  determined 
to  put  her  fate  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  yet 
not  altogether  without  preparation  for  the  ordeal 
through  which  she  was  to  pass.  Belasco's  method 
of  instructing  her  was  the  only  practical  one:  he 
treated  her  as  if  she  had  been  the  leading  woman  in 
a  stock  company,  under  his  direction,  in  circum- 


372    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

stances  which  made  it  peremptory  that  she,  and  only 
she,  should  act  certain  parts,  and  with  whom,  accord 
ingly,  he  must  do  the  best  he  could.  His  experience 
as  a  teacher  was  onerous  and  often  discouraging,  but 
he  and  his  pupil  persevered.  "Mrs.  Carter,"  he 
writes,  "had  no  idea  of  the  rudiments  of  acting.  In 
Chicago  she  had  been  a  brilliant  drawing-room  figure. 
Very  graceful  in  private  life,  she  became  awkward 
and  self-conscious  on  the  stage.  Our  first  lessons 
included  a  series  of  physical  exercises,  to  secure  a 
certain  grace  and  ease  of  motion."  During  the 
period  from  April,  1890,  to  about  June,  1891,  accord 
ing  to  Belasco's  statement  to  me,  Mrs.  Carter,  under 
his  direction,  memorized  and  rehearsed  (sometimes 
on  the  stage  of  Palmer's  Theatre,  sometimes  in  pri 
vate  rooms)  more  than  thirty  different  parts,  in  rep 
resentative  drama,  ranging  from  Nancy  Sikes,  in 
"Oliver  Twist,"  to  Parihenia,  in  "Ingomar";  from 
Camille  to  Lady  Macbeth;  from  Julia,  in  "The 
Hunchback,"  to  Mrs.  Bouncer,  in  "Box  and  Cox," 
and  from  Leah  the,  Forsaken  to  Frou-Frou.  Mean 
time,  however,  Belasco  had  a  wife  and  children  to 
support,  as  well  as  himself;  his  resources  were  little 
and  day  by  day  were  growing  less ;  Mrs.  Carter  and " 
her  devoted  mother  were  no  better  off,  and  it  was 
essential  that  the  hopeful  but  harassed  adventurer 
should  add  to  his  income,  derived  from  miscellaneous 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    373 

private  teaching  and  coaching  for  the  stage,  to  which 
precarious  expedient  he  was,  at  this  period,  com 
pelled  to  revert,  to  eke  out  his  slender  revenue.  At 
this  juncture  his  friend  Charles  Frohman,  who  had 
bought  Bronson  Howard's  war  melodrama  of 
"Shenandoah"  and  had  prospered  with  it,  and  who 
had  undertaken  to  provide  dramatic  entertainments 
for  Proctor's  Twenty-third  Street  Theatre,  applied 
to  him  for  a  new  play. 


CONFEDERATION    WITH    CHARLES    FROHMAN. 

"There  was  an  old  building  on  Twenty-third  Street. 
Proctor  now  [1890]  turned  this  building  into  a  theatre, 
and  *C.  F.'  asked  me  to  write  a  play  -for  the  opening.  .  .  . 
Frohman,"  writes  Belasco,  "had  persuaded  F.  F.  Proctor 
to  turn  an  old  church  .  .  .  into  a  theatre.  *C.  F.'  was 
to  supply  the  company  and  a  new  play.  Proctor,  a  pioneer 
with  a  tremendous  amount  of  ambition,  had  been  making 
money  in  vaudeville  and  wanted  to  enter  the  theatrical 
field.  'Dave,'  *C.  F.'  said,  'I  shall  depend  upon  you  for 
the  play.'  ...  I  advised  him  not  to  wait  an  instant,  lest 
Proctor's  enthusiasm  die  out.  The  following  week  the  old 
church  began  dropping  its  ecclesiastical  aspect  as  fast  as  the 
wreckers  could  do  away  with  it. 

"I  was  strongly  tempted  to  write  the  opening  play  alone, 
but  when  I  saw  how  much  depended  upon  it  I  had  a  touch 
of  stage  fright.  Naturally,  my  thoughts  turned  to  Henry 
De  Mille.  .  .  .  We  had  always  been  successful  because  our 
way  of  thought  was  similar  and  we  were  frank  in  our  criti- 


374    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

cism  of  each  other's  work.  He  excelled  in  narrative  and 
had  a  quick  wit.  The  emotional  or  dramatic  scenes  were 
more  to  my  liking.  I  acted  while  he  took  down  my  speeches. 
When  a  play  was  finished,  it  was  impossible  to  say  where 
his  work  left  off  and  my  work  began  [???— W.  W.].  This 
is  what  collaboration  should  be. 

"It  was  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  I  was  seized 
with  the  idea  of  asking  De  Mille  to  assist  me  and  I  hastened 
at  once  to  his  house.  I  knocked  on  his  door  with  the 
vigor  of  a  watchman  sounding  a  fire  alarm,  and  when  De 
Mille  at  last  appeared  he  was  armed  with  a  cane,  ready 
to  defend  his  hearth  and  home.  I  told  him  of  the  neces 
sity  for  a  play  for  *C.  F.V  opening  and  he  agreed  to  work 
with  me.  In  the  profession  De  Mille  and  I  were  thought 
to  be  very  lucky  as  'theatre  openers.'  Looking  back,  I 
see  how  many,  many  times  it  has  been  my  fate  to  break  the 
bottle  over  the  prows  of  theatrical  ships.  Here  we  were 
again, — De  Mille  and  I, — talking  over  the  birth  and  bap 
tism  of  yet  another  New  York  manager!" 


PROCTOR'S    TWENTY-THIRD    STREET    THEATRE. 

This  recollection  is  not  accurate  relative  to  details 
concerning  the  opening  of  Proctor's  Twenty-third 
Street  Theatre.  The  site  of  that  theatre  was,  at 
one  time,  occupied  by  a  church.  Later  it  was  occu 
pied  by  an  armory  for  the  Seventy-ninth  Regiment, 
N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.  Then  it  was  converted  into  "Salmi 
Morse's  Temple  Theatre,"  but  Morse  was  denied 
a  license  and  could  not  open  it.  Under  management 


From   an   old  photograph. 


Collection. 


HENRY  C.  DE  MILLE 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEL  AS  CO     375 

of  Converse  L.  Graves,  who  took  over  Morse's  inter 
est,  it  was  opened,  May  21,  1883,  as  the  Temple 
Theatre,  with  a  play  called  "A  Bustle  Among  the 
Petticoats."  Max  Strakosch  succeeded  Graves  as 
manager  of  the  house,  and  in  turn  sold  his  interest 
to  Albert  G.  Eaves,  a  New  York  theatrical  costumer, 
who,  in  association  with  Edward  Stone,  conducted 
the  theatre  for  a  short  time.  Thereafter,  about 
1885,  it  was  restored  to  ecclesiastical  service  as  the 
Twenty-third  Street  Tabernacle.  F.  F.  Proctor 
leased  the  property  in  1888,  tore  down  the  old  build 
ing  and  erected  a  new  one,  which,  as  Proctor's 
Twenty-third  Street  Theatre,  was  opened,  May  5, 
1889,  with  a  performance,  by  Neil  Burgess  and  his 
company,  of  "The  County  Fair."  Dockstader's  Min 
strels  succeeded  Burgess,  and  on  August  31  "The 
Great  Metropolis"  was  there  first  acted.  "Shenan- 
doah,"  transferred  from  the  Star  Theatre,  where  it 
was  produced  for  the  first  time  in  New  York  on 
September  9,  1889,  was  presented  there  on  October 
21,  that  year,  and  it  ran  till  April  19,  1890, — receiv 
ing,  in  all,  250  performances.  Stuart  Robson  played 
there,  in  "The  Henrietta,"  from  April  21  to  May 
31,  when  the  theatre  was  closed.  It  was  reopened 
on  September  8,  1890,  with  a  farce  by  William  Gil 
lette,  called  "All  the  Comforts  of  Home," — adapted 
from  "Bin  Toller  Einfall,"— which  held  the  stage 


376     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

till  October  18,  and,  on  October  21,  for  the  first 
time  anywhere,  "Men  and  Women"  was  there  pro 
duced.  That  event  occurred  a  year  and  a  half  after 
the  theatre  was  first  opened.  Descanting  on  the 
inception  of  the  play  of  "Men  and  Women,"  Belasco 
writes: 

"About  this  time  the  newspapers  were  full  of  a  bank 
scandal.  A  young  man  employed  in  a  bank  had  speculated 
with  funds  and  found  himself  in  a  very  dangerous  position. 
His  father,  a  fine  man  of  business,  and  a  stockholder,  had 
the  sympathy  of  the  entire  public  in  his  misfortune.  Owing 
to  the  young  man's  speculations,  the  bank  was  on  the  verge 
of  closing,  and  the  newspapers  were  full  of  harrowing 
details.  As  I  read  the  accounts  I  came  to  this  sentence 
in  a  statement  made  by  the  father:  'I'll  save  the  bank  if 
it  costs  me  a  million  a  day!'  'Henry,'  I  said,  'there's  our 
play.  We  must  deal  with  a  father's  pride  and  love  for  his 
only  son,  no  matter  what  deed  the  son  may  commit.'  To 
me  the  father's  statement  meant:  'I'll  save  my  boy,  though 
I  am  left  without  a  penny  and  have  to  beg  on  the 
streets.'  .  .  . 

"Next  to  inventing  a  plot  and  story,  our  greatest  diffi 
culty  was  to  find  a  title.  Our  play  was  to  have  a  uni 
versal  appeal.  One  of  our  characters  was  a  liberal  Jew. 
Because  of  the  broadness  of  the  theme,  we  selected  the 
name  of  'Men  and  Women.'  It  was  an  accepted  rule  at 
this  time  to  have  two  sets  of  lovers,  but  we  broke  all  tradi 
tions  by  introducing  three  sets  of  heroes  and  heroines  in  ] 
'Men  and  Women,'  for  we  attempted  to  depict  the  frailties 
and  weaknesses  of  many  men  and  women.  The  Third  Act 
represented  a  directors'  meeting  on  the  night  before  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    377 

closing  of  the  bank,  with  a  number  of  Federal  government 
officials  present.  In  order  to  be  accurate  it  was  necessary 
to  get  information  from  some  one  who  had  been  through 
this  scene  in  real  life.  I  went  to  a  bank  cashier  whom  I 
knew,  and  explained  our  dilemma.  'I'll  give  you  all  the 
details  of  such  a  night,'  he  agreed,  'but  you  must  be  very 
careful.  You  understand  that  I  must  compromise  no  one, 
or  my  own  position  will  be  in  jeopardy.'  Then  he  gave 
me  much  information,  describing  the  feelings  of  the  finan 
ciers  who  walked  under  the  shadow  of  arrest.  When  I  left 
him  I  had  all  the  facts  necessary  to  create  a  rousing  cli 
max.  I  felt  like  a  reporter  who  has  gone  after  the  news 
of  an  event  and  come  away  with  a  photograph  of  each 
moment  of  a  tragedy." 


THE    PLAY    OF    "MEN    AND    WOMEN." 

This  play  would  have  been  called  by  Boucicault 
a  "comedy-drama":  he  was  fond  of  classifying 
plays  and  he  invented  that  designation  (as  well  as 
various  others)  meaning  thereby  to  denote  a  "sen 
sation  drama,"  illustrated  with  comedy.  The  per 
vasive  defect  of  the  play,  like  that  which  mars  some 
other  plays  written  by  Belasco,  in  association  with 
De  Mille,  is  an  excess  of  extraneous  details.  Nev 
ertheless  it  tells  an  interesting  story,  well  devised 
to  absorb  attention,  and  it  possesses  vital  dramatic 
movement.  The  comedy  element  in  it  is  trivial. 
The  story,  though  somewhat  confused,  is  stronger 


378    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

than  that  in  any  other  of  the  several  plays  written 
by  Belasco  and  De  Mille. 

The  main  theme  is  the  desperate  situation  of  a 
man  named  William  Prescott,  cashier  of  a  bank, 
who  is  guilty  of  peculation  and  who  is  striving  to 
escape  the  consequences  of  his  crime.  An  accom 
plice  in  the  robbery  is  a  broker,  who  has  committed 
suicide.  The  assistant  cashier  of  the  bank,  Edwin 
Seabury  by  name,  Prescott's  close  friend  and  the 
betrothed  lover  of  his  sister,  is  suspected  of  the 
theft.  At  first,  perceiving  that  for  his  personal 
security  he  need  only  remain  silent  and  permit  his 
innocent  comrade  to  be  ruined,  Prescott,  though 
drawn  as  a  man  essentially  virtuous,  yields  to  the 
temptation  to  hold  his  peace  and  let  Seabury  be 
condemned;  but  on  discovering  that  his  sweetheart, 
Agnes  Rodman,  is  aware  of  his  guilt  and,  out  of 
devotion  to  him,  is  willing  to  condone  his  crime  and 
his  additional  iniquity,  Prescott  is  shocked  into 
remorse  and  repentance  and  he  determines  that  Sea- 
bury  shall  be  saved,  at  whatever  sacrifice  of  himself. 
The  portrayal  of  the  strife  in  the  minds  of  Pres 
cott  and  of  Agnes  Rodman  is  remarkably  expert, 
vivid,  and  effective,  the  element  of  suspense  being 
most  adroitly  sustained. 

Seabury' s  peril  is  heightened  by  the  implacable 
enmity  of  the  attorney  for  the  bank,  Calvin  Sted- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     379 

man,  who  is  Sedbury's  unsuccessful  rival  in  love, 
and  who,  honestly  believing  the  young  man  guilty, 
exults  in  the  opportunity  to  ruin  him,  and  opposes 
every  effort  made  by  the  president  of  the  bank, 
Israel  Cohen,  to  weather  the  storm  and  save  the 
institution  from  ruin.  The  vital  scene  of  the  play 
occurs  in  the  Third  Act,  when,  late  at  night,  in  the 
library  of  the  president's  home,  the  directors  of 
the  bank  assemble  to  consult  with  a  National  Bank 
Examiner  and  seek  to  contrive  means  to  avert  pub 
licity,  forestall  a  destructive  "run,"  and  restore  the 
stolen  funds.  One  of  those  directors,  Stephen 
Rodman,  father  of  the  girl  to  whom  Prescott  is 
betrothed,  opposes  the  purpose  of  Stedman  to 
force  public  avowal  of  the  situation,  regardless  of 
consequences  to  the  institution,  and  is  suddenly 
denounced  by  Stedman  as  being  himself  a  former 
peculator  whom  he,  Stedman,  years  earlier,  has 
prosecuted,  who  was  convicted,  and  has  served  a 
term  in  prison,  and  therefore  should  be  deemed  an 
unfit  person  to  suggest  such  a  composition  of  the 
trouble.  The  incidents  and  the  language  used  in 
depicting  that  meeting  of  the  directors  of  the  tot 
tering  bank  are  skilfully  and  impressively  used,  and 
Belasco's  extraordinary  facility  of  dramatic  expres 
sion,  once  his  desired  situation  has  been  obtained,  is 
finely  exemplified.  At  the  last,  Prescott  assuming 


380    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

his  responsibility,  the  way  out  of  the  dilemma  is  pro 
vided  by  Mr.  Pendleton,  one  of  the  directors,  a  half- 
deaf,  crusty,  apparently  fussy,  muddled  old  man, 
who  is,  in  fact,  clear-headed  and  practical  and  who 
provides  the  necessary  money  to  save  the  bank. 
Condonement  of  a  felony  is  a  dubious  expedient, 
but  in  a  fiction  it  is  often  convenient,  especially 
when,  as  in  "Men  and  Women,"  justice  is  seen  to 
be  done,  all  round. 

One  singular  "effect"  in  the  central  scene  of  this 
play  was  caused  by  a  glimmer  of  simulated  moon 
light  through  a  stained  glass  window,  showing  a 
representation  of  the  Christ  (rather  a  surprising 
object  of  art  to  occur  in  the  private  library  of  a 
Jew,  however  liberal),  after  a  fervid  expression,  by 
Israel  Cohen,  of  the  need  of  charity  and  forbear 
ance.  The  wise  counsel  of  the  old  Oxford  Profes 
sor  (cited  and  approved  by  Belasco's  mentor,  Bouci- 
cault,  and  sometimes  attributed  to  him),  that  when 
you  particularly  admire  any  special  passage  in  any 
thing  you  have  written  you  had  better  cut  it  out, 
might  well  have  been  mentioned  by  Belasco  for  the 
benefit  of  his  collaborator.  There  are  several  pas 
sages  of  "fine  writing"  in  "Men  and  Women," 
which  show  De  Mille  to  disadvantage.  The  play 
will  not  bear  close  analysis:  it  was  artificially  con 
structed  around  the  situation  at  the  crisis  of  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     381 

bank's  affairs;  but  it  admirably  answered  the  pur 
pose  for  which  it  was  written,  and  it  had  203  con 
secutive  performances,  at  the  Twenty-third  Street 
Theatre.  This  was  the  cast: 


Israel  Cohen Frederic  de  Belleville. 

William  Prescott William  Morris. 

Edwin  Seabury Orrin   Johnson. 

Mr.  Pendleton Charles  Leslie  Allen. 

Mr.  Reynolds W.  H.  TiUiard. 

Mr.  Bergman Arthur  Hayden. 

Mr.  Wayne Edgar  Mackey. 

Calvin  Stedman R.  A.  Roberts. 

Lyman  H.  Webb Henry  Talbot. 

Stephen  Rodman Frank  Mordaunt. 

Col.  Zachary  T.  Kip M.  A.  Kennedy. 

Dr.  "Dick"  Armstrong T.  C.  Valentine. 

Sam  Dela field J.  C.  Buckstone. 

Arnold  Kirke Emmett   Corrigan. 

Crawford E.  J.  McCullough. 

District  Messenger  No.  81 Master  Louis  Haines. 

Roberts A.  R.  Newtown. 

John Richard  Marlow. 

Agnes  Rodman.  .  .  . Sydney  Armstrong. 

Dora Maude  Adams. 

Mrs.  Kate  Delafield Odette  Tyler. 

Margery  Knox Etta  Hawkins. 

Mrs.  Jane  Preston Annie  Adams. 

Mrs.  Kirke Lillian  Chantore. 

Lucy Winona   Shannon. 

Julia Gladys   Eurelle. 


382     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

The  stage  setting  of  "Men  and  Women"  was 
uncommonly  fine  and  much  of  the  acting  was  excel 
lent, — notably  the  performances  of  Israel  Cohen 
by  Frederic  de  Belleville,  William  Prescott  by 
William  Morris,  Calvin  Stedman  by  R.  A.  Rob 
erts,  Stephen  Rodman  by  Frank  Mordaunt,  and 
Mr.  Pendleton  by  Charles  Leslie  Allen.  Roberts 
was  specially  admirable  for  the  manner  with  which 
he  suffused  his  impersonation  of  the  savagely 
implacable  attorney  with  an  antipathetic  but  wholly 
veritable  air  of  saturated  self-approbation  in  his 
cruel  assumption  of  righteousness. 

The  whole  moral  doctrine  of  Belasco,  not  only  in 
this  play  but  in  several  others  of  the  same  class, — 
a  doctrine  upon  which  he  dwells  with  what,  con 
sidering  the  existing  way  of  the  world,  seems  rather 
a  superfluous  insistence, — is  comprised  in  four  well- 
known  lines  by  Robert  Burns  which,  on  the  pro 
gramme,  were  used  as  an  epigraph  for  this  play: 

"Then  gently  scan  your  brother  man, 

Still  gentler  sister  woman, 
Tho'  they  may  gang  a  kennin  wrang, 
To  step  aside  is  human." 

It  is.    But  many  things  that  are  human  are  rep 
rehensible.     "To  step  aside"  sometimes  causes  sinsl 
that  can  never  be  expiated,   sorrows  that  can  never 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     383 

be  assuaged,  wrongs  that  never  can  be  righted.    The 
most  terrible  of  all  words  is  the  word  CONSEQUENCES. 


HATCHING    "THE    UGLY    DUCKLING." 

Belasco,  while  colaboring  with  De  Mille  in  the 
writing  of  "Men  and  Women"  and  subsequently 
while  rehearsing,  for  Frohman,  the  company  which 
acted  in  that  play,  concurrently  continued  his  tuition 
of  Mrs.  Carter;  but  it  was  beyond  even  his  aspiring 
spirit  and  indefatigable  industry  to  undertake  at 
the  same  time  the  additional  task  of  writing  a  new 
play  for  her  use.  In  this  dilemma  he  presently 
effected  an  arrangement  with  Mr.  Paul  M.  Potter 
whereby  that  playwright  agreed  to  furnish  him  with 
"a  comedy  drama"  for  Mrs.  Carter's  use,  so  that  he 
was  left  free  to  work  at  his  other  tasks  and  to  seek 
for  capital  with  which  to  launch  his  star.  His  next 
step  was  to  arrange  with  Edward  D.  Price,  a  person 
widely  experienced  in  theatrical  affairs,  to  act  as 
business  manager  of  Mrs.  Carter's  tour,  Price  accept 
ing  the  office  on  condition  that  Belasco  would  pro 
vide  a  capital  of  $10,000,  to  be  placed  on  deposit  in 
a  bank  before  beginning  the  season.  This  Belasco 
undertook  to  do, — not  at  that  moment  knowing  how 
he  was  to  do  it,  but  feeling  confident,  nevertheless, 
that  it  could  be  done.  On  conferring  with  Mrs. 


384    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Carter  and  her  mother  he  was  apprised  that  the 
latter  had  contrived  to  obtain  the  sum  of  $1,500. 
On  learning  that  this  would  be  wholly  inadequate 
for  the  production  of  the  new  play,  Mrs.  Carter 
suggested  that  application  for  assistance  should  be 
made,  on  her  behalf,  to  wealthy  friends  of  hers,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  N.  K.  Fairbank,  of  Chicago,  who  had  been 
kind  to  her  throughout  the  distressing  ordeal  of  her 
domestic  troubles  and  who  evidently  believed  in  her 
integrity  and  ability.  This  application  was  at  once 
made,  and  it  was  successful.  "We  will  deposit 
$10,000  to  your  credit,"  said  Mr.  Fairbank  (so 
Belasco  has  stated  to  me),  "and  it  is  to  be  used  for 
launching  Mrs.  Carter  as  a  star.  If  you  need  more, 
you  can  get  it  by  applying  to  my  legal  representa 
tives  in  Chicago."  "The  only  restriction  that  Fair- 
bank  stipulated  for,"  added  Belasco,  "was  the  very 
reasonable  one  that  I  should  keep  an  account  of  the 
expenditures, — which  I  did,  to  the  last  penny." 

Having  secured  a  competent  business  manager 
and,  apparently,  sufficient  financial  support,  it  only 
remained  to  wait  for  the  play  and  to  improve  Mrs. 
Carter  as  much  as  possible  as  an  actress.  Mr.  Potter 
soon  forwarded  the  manuscript  of  his  play,  which 
was  called  "The  Ugly  Duckling."  On  reading  that 
fabrication  Belasco, — who  seems  to  have  expected 
much  from  Mr.  Potter, — was  chagrined  to  find  it 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     385 

artificial,  flimsy,  and  insufficient.  Instead  of  at  once 
undertaking  to  rewrite  it  himself  he  injudiciously 
employed  for  that  purpose  a  person  named  Archi 
bald  C.  Gordon,  who  was  commended  to  his  favor 
as  being  qualified  to  perform  the  required  work. 
This  Gordon,  however,  turned  out  to  be  not  only  a 
blackguard  who  could  not  be  tolerated  but  also  to 
be  wholly  incompetent  as  a  playwright,  and  Belasco, 
in  consequence,  after  much  annoyance,  was  ulti 
mately  compelled  himself  to  rectify,  as  far  as  pos 
sible,  the  gross  inadequacies  of  the  piece.  Testify 
ing  on  this  subject,  in  court,  in  1896,  he  said:  "I  cut 
out  everything  that  Mr.  Gordon  wrote."  Notwith 
standing  all  impediments,  delays  and  vexations,  a 
company  was  at  last  engaged,  a  theatre  was  secured, 
rehearsals  were  effected,  and,  on  November  10, 
1890,  Mrs.  Carter,  acting  Kate  Gray  don,  made  her 
first  appearance  on  the  stage,  at  the  Broadway 
Theatre,  New  York. 


"THE    UGLY    DUCKLING."— MRS.    CARTER'S  DEBUT. 

The  play  of  "The  Ugly  Duckling"  is  founded,  in 
part,  on  the  idea  of  Andersen's  fairy  tale,  from 
which  its  name  is  taken, — the  idea,  namely,  that  the 
supposedly  least  promising  and  least  esteemed 
member  of  a  brood  may  prove  to  be  the  finest 


386    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

and  most  worthy  of  admiration.  The  story  relates 
to  domestic  tribulations  in  a  prominent  New  York 
family,  named  Graydon.  The  youngest  member  of 
that  family,  Kate  Graydon,  returning  home  from 
England,  finds  her  more  valued  sister,  Hester, 
engaged  to  be  married  to  an  Englishman,  Viscount 
Huntington,  by  whom  she  has  herself  been  courted, 
in  London.  She  keeps  her  secret  for  her  sister's 
sake,  and  Hester  becomes  Huntington's  wife.  A 
vindictive  Corsican,  Count  Malatesta,  believing 
that  in  Huntington  he  has  found  the  betrayer 
of  his  wife,  the  Countess  Malatesta,  entices  Hester 
to  his  apartments,  and  then  causes  Huntington 
to  be  apprised  of  her  presence  there.  Kate,  hav 
ing  followed  her  sister,  liberates  her  from  this 
scandalous  situation,  at  the  cost  of  compromising 
herself. 

The  play  will  not  bear  consideration.  That  Mrs. 
Carter  should  not  have  been  irrevocably  damned  as 
an  actress  by  making  her  first  appearance  in  such 
a  puerile  composition  speaks  much  for  her  natural 
talent  and  for  Belasco's  skilful  tuition  and  manage 
ment.  That  he  should  have  risked  her  advent  in 
such  a  fabric  of  trash  is  astounding.  Since,  ulti 
mately,  he  established  her  as  a  highly  successful 
star,  I  suppose  he  would  maintain  that  his  judg 
ment  has  been  vindicated.  I  cannot  but  feel,  how- 


Photograph  by   Sarony. 


Belasco's   Collection. 


MRS.  LESLIE  CARTER 

About  the  time  of  "The  Ugly  Duckling" 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     387 

ever,  that,  had  he  embarked  her  with  a  good  play, 
he  would  have  brought  her  to  public  acceptance 
much  earlier  than  he  did.  In  Mrs.  Carter's  per 
formance  of  Kate  Graydon  there  were  moments 
in  which  she  escaped  the  thraldom  of  solicitude  and 
self-consciousness  and  clearly  indicated  possession  of 
the  faculty  of  vigorous  dramatic  expression.  This 
was  the  original  cast  of  "The  Ugly  Duckling": 

Douglas  Oakley Arthur  Dacre. 

Count  Malatesta ...... Edward  J.  Henley. 

Professor  Graydon.  . .  . .William  H.  Thompson. 

Viscount  Huntington Ian   [Forbes-]   Robertson. 

Mr.  Ernest  Granly R.  F.  Cotton. 

Jack  Farragut Raymond  Holmes. 

Chevalier  Raff Mervin  Dallas. 

Randolph Thomas    Oberle. 

Mrs.  Graydon Ida  Vernon. 

Hester  Graydon Helen   Bancroft. 

Kate  Graydon Mrs.  Leslie  Carter. 

Mrs.   Granly Helen   Russell. 

Helen Ida   Macdonald. 

Agnes Fannie  Batchelder. 

"If  it  had  not  been  for  the  interest  of  Isaac  Rich, 
of  Boston,"  Belasco  told  me,  "whose  friendship  and 
good  will  I  had  gained  through  my  work  on  Gil 
lette's  dramatization  of  'She,'  and  who  was  kind 
enough  to  help  me  when  it  seemed  as  though  most 
of  the  rest  of  the  world  was  against  me,  I  don't 


388    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

believe  we  could  have  got  a  tour  booked  anywhere. 
However,  we  did  manage  to  get  a  route — and  lost 
a  fair-sized  fortune  playing  it!  Mrs.  Carter  was 
made  a  target  all  along  the  line." 


MORE    FAILURE,    AND    A    LAWSUIT. 

During  this  tour,  though  Mrs.  Carter  revealed 
fine  talent  and  won  some  commendation,  the  busi 
ness  was  uniformly  bad  until  she  appeared  in  Chi 
cago;  there,  for  the  first  time,  the  receipts  exceeded 
the  expenses,  and  it  began  to  seem  as  though  the 
tide  had  turned  toward  prosperity.  But  the  venture 
had  already  cost  more  than  $40,000,  and  Fairbank, 
becoming  dissatisfied,  suddenly  withdrew  his  sup 
port.  "On  the  strength  of  Mr.  Fairbank's  promise," 
Belasco  declared,  "I  had  given  mine,  to  many  cred 
itors,  and  now,  when  they  pressed  for  payment  (as 
they  did  very  quickly  when  it  became  known  Fair- 
bank  had  withdrawn),  I  was  unable  to  keep  it.  I 
had  no  recourse  but  to  bring  suit  against  him  to 
make  good  his  promise  and,  most  unwillingly,  I  pre 
pared  to  do  so."  Mrs.  Carter's  first  tour  under 
Belasco's  direction  and  the  life  of  "The  Ugly 
Duckling"  were  both  peremptorily  brought  to  an 
end  by  Fairbank,  acting  through  one  of  his  attor 
neys,  R.  W.  Morrison,  in  Kansas  City,  on  March  14, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    389 

1891 ;  the  theatrical  company  which  had  been  acting 
in  association  with  Mrs.  Carter  was  disbanded,  and 
the  perplexed  manager  and  his  dejected  pupil 
returned  to  New  York,  where  arrangements  were 
presently  made  by  Belasco  to  institute  a  lawsuit 
against  Fairbank.  Writing  on  this  subject  he  has 
said: 

"The  Fairbank  lawyers  came  to  New  York  to  see  what 
compromise  I  would  accept.  I  said:  'Here  are  all  the  bills. 
If  you  pay  them,  the  incident  will  be  closed.'  But  they 
refused.  Mr.  Fairbank  had  hoped  the  tour  would  be  a 
financial  success,  the  lawyers  said,  and  he  would  never  have 
entered  into  such  a  speculation  if  he  had  known  how  much 
it  involved.  'Certainly,'  I  answered,  'he  did  not  expect  a 
theatrical  venture  of  this  nature  to  cost  nothing!  I  am 
sure  of  Mrs.  Carter's  ultimate  success,'  I  declared,  'and  I 
am  willing  to  bind  myself  by  a  promise  to  pay  everything 
back' ;  but  the  lawyers  refused.  So  I  put  my  affairs  in  the 
hands  of  my  friend,  Judge  Dittenhoefer,  and  the  suit  began. 
The  trial  lasted  for  three  weeks." 

Belasco's  suit  against  Fairbank, — which  was  to 
recover  $65,000,  as  reimbursement  of  losses  incurred 
in  presenting  "The  Ugly  Duckling,"  payment  for 
professional  services  as  Mrs.  Carter's  dramatic  in 
structor  (for  which  services  Fairbank  had  agreed  to 
pay),  and  other  items, — remained  in  abeyance  for 
several  years.  It  was,  however,  finally  brought  to 
trial  on  June  3,  1896,  before  Justice  Leonard  Gie- 


390    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

gerich  and  a  jury,  in  Part  V.  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  New  York.  Belasco's  action  was  met  by  denial 
and  a  counter  suit  for  $53,000  by  Fairbank.  The 
issues  were  acrimoniously  contested  at  every  point, 
but  on  June  23  the  jury  returned  a  compromise 
verdict  (as  one  juryman  described  it)  in  favor  of 
Belasco,  awarding  him  $16,000  and  5  per  cent, 
interest, — $20,000  in  all.  During  that  trial  certain 
newspapers,  manifesting  singular  partisan  bias,  went 
to  scandalous  extremes  of  exaggeration  and  ridicule 
in  their  reports  of  the  testimony  in  effort  to  dis 
parage  Belasco  and  make  him  appear  contemptible. 
One  fiction  then  originated  has  persisted, — the  fic 
tion,  namely,  that  Belasco  instructed  Mrs.  Carter 
by  "pounding  and  bumping"  her  and  dragging  her 
about  a  room  by  the  hair.  That  tale  was  based  on 
an  allusion  to  rehearsal  of  the  shocking  Murder 
Scene  in  the  revolting  play  of  "Oliver  Twist." 

Mrs.  Carter's  acknowledgment  of  her  debt  to 
Belasco  and  her  appreciation  of  his  assistance  and 
his  forbearance  toward  her  are  significantly  de 
noted  in  a  letter  written  by  her,  June  3,  1890,  to 
Charles  L.  Allen,  one  of  Fairbank's  principal 
Chicago  lawyers,  from  which  the  following  words 
are  quoted: 

"He  [Belasco]  feels  he  cannot  go  on  with  me  unless  he 
is  able  to  make  things  creditable.  He  has  stuck  by  me  in 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    391 

my  struggle  against  prejudice;  he  has  stood  up  for  me,  and 
given  his  personal  written  assurance  on  every  contract  I 
have  that  things  will  be  creditably  and  properly  done.  It  is 
owing  to  him  and  his  personal  influence  among  theatrical 
managers  that  I  have  succeeded  in  getting  the  best  route  and 
the  best  theatres — he  has  committed  himself  and  will  not  have 
failure  meet  him. 

"He  has  helped  me  without  asking  pay — he  has  given  my 
play — his  name — his  instruction — he  has  given  up  other 
things — to  put  me  through:  he  will  produce  my  play — he 
will  answer  for  my  success — he  stands  sponsor  for  my  first 
night,  and  before  the  entire  public — and  he  does  it  all  with 
out  asking  pay — ready  to  wait  until  I  am  started  for  his 
remuneration — and  he  did  all  Ms  on  Mr.  Fairbanks  promise 
to  see  me  through.  ..." 

In  his  "Story"  Belasco  makes  this  kindly  allusion 
to  Fairbank,  which  indicates  that  the  clash  between 
them  resulted  from  meddlesome  interference  of 
persons  inimical  to  him  and  to  his  star: 

"I  never  regretted  anything  more  than  being  forced  to 
bring  suit  against  Fairbank.  He  was  courteous,  kind- 
hearted,  mellow,  and  human.  I  am  sure  that  when  he  and 
his  wife  started  to  aid  Mrs.  Carter  it  was  their  intention  to 
see  her  through.  I  met  him  in  after  years,  and  in  the 
course  of  conversation  he  admitted  that  all  I  had  done  for 
Mrs.  Carter  was  done  wisely.  'It's  too  horrible,'  he  said. 
'I  was  badly  advised  by  my  friends.  You  should  never  have 
been  obliged  to  carry,  the  matter  into  the  courts.'  " 


392     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

A    POVERTY-STRICKEN    STRUGGLE. 

When  Mrs.  Carter  and  Mrs.  Dudley,  her  mother, 
returned  to  New  York  after  the  demise  of  "The 
Ugly  Duckling,"  in  Kansas  City  (1891),  they 
established  their  residence  at  No.  63  Clinton  Place. 
Belasco  lodged  at  No.  126  Waverley  Place,  and 
almost  immediately  he  resumed  his  project  of 
writing,  unaided,  a  new  play  specially  designed 
for  the  use  of  Mrs.  Carter.  Having  no  conven 
ient  place  of  his  own  in  which  to  work,  he  obtained 
the  use  of  a  room  in  Mrs.  Dudley's  apartment, 
in  which  to  write  his  play,  and  there  he  completed 
the  first  draft  of  "The  Heart  of  Maryland,"  and 
incidentally  continued  his  tuition  of  Mrs.  Carter. 
I  remember  seeing  them  once  at  about  that 
period  at  Delmonico's  old  restaurant,  Twenty-sixth 
Street,  where  I  chanced  to  be  dining  with  Augustin 
Daly  and  Ada  Rehan,  and  years  afterward,  on  one 
of  the  few  occasions  when  I  have  personally  met 
Mrs.  Carter,  she  mentioned  remembering  the  same 
incident,  saying  it  was  so  unusual  for  them,  in  those 
days  of  trouble,  to  visit  that  pleasant  place.  They 
were,  she  added,  celebrating  some  little  favorable 
turn  in  their  prospects;  "I  looked  at  Mr.  Daly  and 
Miss  Rehan,"  said  Mrs.  Carter,  "and  whispered  to 
'Mr.  Dave,'  'Shall  we  ever  "get  there"  and  be,  like 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     398 

them,  successful  and  accepted?' "  To  which,  she 
said,  Belasco  confidently  answered,  "Of  course  we 
shall!" 

Speaking  to  me  lightly  of  that  period  of  ordeal, 
which  was,  in  fact,  a  bitterly  afflicting  one  for  him 
to  endure,  Belasco  said:  "But  Delmonico's  was  not 
for  us  in  those  days:  my  family  were,  fortunately 
for  them,  in  San  Francisco,  and  many  a  time, — 
habitually,  in  fact, — Mrs.  Carter  and  her  mother  and 
I  'dined'  at  a  twenty-five  cent  table,  d'hote  on  Fourth 
Avenue — and  were  lucky  to  dine  anywhere.  We 
had  put  all  we  had  into  launching  and  exploiting 
Mrs.  Carter,  and  those  two  women  were  hard  put  to 
it  to  keep  their  Clinton  Place  apartment.  As  for 
me, — well,  I  had,  of  course,  some  income  from  my 
plays,  and  I  gave  private  coaching  to  beginners  and 
professionals,  anybody  who  would  employ  me 
(among  others,  by  the  way,  Georgia  Cay  van,  who 
always  liked  to  have  me  rehearse  her,  even  after  I 
left  the  Lyceum),  and  I  kept  going,  after  a  fashion; 
but  I  had  expenses  heavier  than  my  resources  would 
meet,  and  I  was  most  of  the  time  poorer  than  I  like 
to  remember — and  all  the  time  I  was  harassed  with 
anxiety." 

Writing  of  that  same  period,  he  gives  this  glimpse 
of  a  poverty-stricken  struggle: 

"It  so  happened  that  at  this  time  the  first  of  the  'beauty 


394    THE  LIFE  Of  DAVID  BELASCO 

doctors'  and  the  'facial-massage'  school  were  making  fort 
unes  with  their  lotions.  It  may  be  interesting  to  know 
that  Mrs.  Carter  was  sorely  tempted  to  enter  this  field  and 
bring  out  a  preparation  for  the  complexion.  In  fact,  she 
negotiated  with  a  well-known  chemist,  who  advised  her  to 
carry  out  her  idea.  Lack  of  necessary  capital  prevented, 
however,  and  she  kept  to  the  stage  instead  of  becoming  a 
business  woman.  The  world  may  have  lost  a  very  good 
'skin-food,'  but  it  gained  a  fine  actress. 

"When  'The  Heart  of  Maryland'  was  finished  models  of 
the  scenes  were  made  and  I  found  myself  with  a  play  and 
a  star — but  no  financial  manager.  Every  one  to  whom  I 
read  the  manuscript  was  eager  to  accept  it,  but  no  one 
wanted  Mrs.  Carter,  despite  the  success  she  had  made. 
Every  manager  had  a  leading  woman  far,  far  better  suited 
to  the  part  of  Maryland.  I  never  heard  of  such  wonder 
ful  leading  women !  The  town  was  alive  with  them !  'Mrs. 
Carter  is  not  a  public  favorite,'  I  was  told  on  all  sides. 
'However,  the  play  was  written  for  her,  and  I've  made  up 
my  mind  not  to  take  it  away  from  her,'  I  answered.  The 
Lord  knows  she  had  suffered  enough  while  waiting  for  it." 

Mrs.  Carter,  beyond  demonstrating  her  possession 
of  genuine  though  nascent  histrionic  ability,  ob 
viously  had  not  made  any  "success," — except  in 
her  approving  preceptor's  mind.  Indeed,  the  dis 
astrous  fate  of  "The  Ugly  Duckling,"  impending 
legal  contentions,  and  the  general  social  oppugnancy 
to  Mrs.  Carter  were  strong,  in  fact  seemingly  in 
superable,  reasons  for  managerial  hesitancy  in  mak 
ing  any  venture  vitally  dependent  upon  her  for  its 


THE  LIFE  OP  DAVID  BELASCO     395 

success.  Belasco,  though  he  adhered  to  his  resolve 
that  only  Mrs.  Carter  should  act  the  part  of  Mary 
land  Calvert,  which  he  had  devised  for  her,  felt 
himself  almost  nonplussed.  He  was  heavily  in  debt ; 
he  had  no  employment;  he  felt  himself  to  be  the 
object  of  active  journalistic  animosity;  he  possessed 
no  financial  resources;  he  seemed,  in  short,  to  be  on 
the  verge  of  defeat.  Charles  Frohman  chanced  to 
meet  him  at  that  time  and,  mentioning  to  him  "a 
play  with  music"  which  had  then  recently  been  pre 
sented  in  Paris,  made  a  suggestion  that  led  to  their 
first  partnership  in  theatrical  management.  "The 
piece  seems  to  have  made  a  sensation,"  said  Froh 
man:  "the  American  rights  are  owned  by  Charles 
Wyndham.  The  leading  characters  are  a  Quaker 
father  and  his  daughter.  The  daughter  is  the  part. 
Can  Mrs.  Carter  sing?  Because,  if  she  can  and 
you  want  to  produce  it  with  me,  I'll  get  an  option 
from  Wyndham:  you  and  Mrs.  Carter  go  to  Paris 
and  see  the  piece — and,  if  you  think  she  can  play 
the  part  and  that  it  will  be  a  go  in  this  country, 
we'll  do  it  together."  Belasco,  although  somewhat 
doubtful  whether  Mrs.  Carter  could  successfully  sus 
tain  the  requirements  of  a  singing  part,  felt  that 
the  proffered  opportunity  must  not  be  neglected; 
after  discussing  the  point  with  his  pupil  a  decision 
to  essay  the  venture  was  quickly  made,  and,  on  April 


396     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

15, 1891,  laying  aside  for  the  moment  all  other  plans, 
Belasco,  Mrs.  Carter  and  her  mother  sailed  for 
England  on  board  the  steamship  City  of  New  York, 
and  from  Southampton  proceeded  at  once  to  France. 
"When  we  reached  Paris,"  writes  Belasco,  "we  found 
the  Bouffes  Parisiennes  'selling  out'  and  'Miss 
Helyett'  the  talk  of  the  town.  It  was  so  full 
of  possibilities  that  I  cabled  'C.  F.'  to  secure  the 
rights  before  I  saw  the  last  act."  That  recom 
mendation  was  promptly  heeded  by  Frohman. 
Writing  of  an  interview  with  Edmond  Audran, 
author  of  the  music,  which  occurred  soon  after  he 
had  seen  the  play,  Belasco  records: 

"I  asked  him  to  give  me  a  letter  in  praise  of  the  singer  who 
was  to  play  the  part,  but  without  mentioning  her  name,  for 
not  only  did  we  wish  to  create  a  surprise  in  America,  but 
to  avoid  complications  with  Wyndham  in  London.  I  knew 
he  would  want  us  to  engage  a  singer  of  established  reputation, 
so  I  avoided  mentioning  the  name  of  the  artist  who  was  to 
have  the  title-part,  Wyndham  was  quite  insistent  when  I 
met  him  in  London,  but  I  handed  him  Audran's  letter,  which 
proved  to  be  the  magic  stroke.  Before  the  day  was  over,  all 
arrangements  were  made  by  cable." 


"MISS  HELYETT"  AND  MRS.  CARTER. 

The  production  of  the  mongrel  play  with  music, 
called   in   our   Theatre   "Miss   Helyett,"— a   fabric 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     397 

which  commingles  comic  opera  with  the  farrago 
known  as  "farce-comedy," — was  a  minor  incident 
in  Belasco's  struggle  for  advancement.  Audran's 
music,  though  not  in  his  best  vein,  is  generally  tune 
ful,  gay,  and  spirited.  The  text  was  "rewritten  from 
the  French  of  Maxime  Boucheron  by  David  Belasco," 
and  the  play  was  first  produced  in  America,  Novem 
ber  3,  1891,  at  the  Star  Theatre,  New  York,  Mrs. 
Carter  then  making  her  only  appearance  in  a  musical 
composition,  and  that  being  also  Belasco's  only  asso 
ciation  with  comic  opera,  after  he  left  the  Theatre  of 
San  Francisco.  The  scene  is  laid  at  the  Hotel  del 
Norte,  in  the  Spanish  Pyrenees  Mountains.  The 
story,  which  is  indelicate,  relates  to  a  ludicrous  acci 
dent  to  a  young  Quakeress,  of  demure  appearance 
and  frolicsome  disposition,  whose  hypocritical  father 
is  conducting  her  through  Europe  in  search  of  an 
advantageous  marriage.  This  female,  known  as 
Miss  Helyettj  falls  over  a  precipice  and  is  caught, 
buttock-end  uppermost,  in  a  convenient  tree,  from 
which  predicament  she  is  rescued  by  a  strolling 
painter.  She  manages  to  conceal  her  face  from  her 
deliverer,  and  she  parts  from  him  without  ascer 
taining  his  identity  or  disclosing  her  own.  Later 
she  determines  to  discover  and  to  marry  the  man 
who  is  already  so  familiarly  acquainted  with  her 
"secret  symmetry"  (as  Byron  calls  it),  and  that  pur- 


398     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

pose  she  ultimately  accomplishes.  Her  search  for 
the  unknown  and  her  discovery  and  conquest  of 
him  constitute  the  substance  of  this  operatic 
farce. 

Mrs.  Carter's  personation  of  Miss  Helyett,  while 
not  deficient  of  piquancy,  was  insignificant.  As  a 
singer  she  was  in  no  way  unusual.  Belasco  relates 
that,  while  in  Paris  with  her,  to  see  the  French 
original,  he  requested  Audran  to  hear  Mrs.  Carter 
sing  and,  if  he  thought  well  of  her  as  a  singer,  to 
teach  her  the  songs  in  "Miss  Helyett."  "Audran 
was  charmed  with  her  ability,"  he  says,  "and  gave 
her  a  number  of  rehearsals.  Then  he  recommended 
an  instructor  and  even  wrote  an  extra  musical  num 
ber  for  her," — which  indicates  that  Audran,  as  a 
musician,  was  easily  pleased.  His  operetta  was 
highly  successful  in  Paris,  and  hardly  less  so  in 
London,  where  Charles  Wyndham  brought  it  out,  at 
the  Criterion  Theatre,  under  the  name  of  "Miss 
Decima."  It  was  generally,  and  justly,  though  with 
out  rancor,  condemned  by  the  press  of  New  York. 
Nevertheless  it  had  a  considerable  though  not  very 
remunerative  career  in  the  metropolis:  it  was  acted 
at  the  Star  Theatre  till  January  10,  1892,  and  on 
January  11  was  transferred  to  the  Standard  The 
atre,  where  it  maintained  itself  till  February  13, — 
the  100th  performance  occurring  there  on  January 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     399 

29.  Belasco  seems  to  have  set  some  store  by  it  at 
one  time,  but  that  was  long  ago.  Wyndham's 
London  presentation  of  the  composition  was  made 
July  23,  1891.  This  was  the  original  cast  of  "Miss 
Helyett"  in  New  York: 

Paul  Grahame Mark  Smith  (Jr.). 

T odder  Bunnythorne M.  A.  Kennedy. 

Obadiah  Smithson Harry  Harwood. 

Terence  0 'Shaughnessy G.  W.  Travener. 

Jacques  Baccarel J.  W.  Herbert. 

Max  Culmbacher N.  S.  Burnham. 

MacGilly Edgar    Ely. 

Prof.  Bonnefoy Gilbert  Sarony. 

Senora  Carmen  Ricomba  della  Torquemada ....  Kate  Davis. 

Marmela Laura    Clement. 

Mrs.  Max  Culmbacher Adelaide  Emerson. 

Mrs.  MacGilly Lillian  Elma. 

La  Stella Henrietta  Rich. 

Miss  Helyett  (Smithson) Mrs.  Leslie  Carter. 

After  its  New  York  engagement  "Miss  Helyett" 
was  taken  on  a  tour  of  principal  cities  of  the  country 
and  was  performed  until  the  close  of  the  theatrical 
season  of  1891-'92.  Notwithstanding  its  intrinsic 
paltriness  and  vulgarity,  that  play  was  practically 
useful  to  Belasco  and  Mrs.  Carter,  providing  a 
temporary  source  of  subsistence  for  both  of  them; 
yielding  the  actress  some  useful  experience  of  the 
stage;  permitting  the  dramatist  some  leisure  for 


400    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEL  AS  CO 

meditation  and  for  rectification  of  his  then  im- 
matured  Civil  War  play,  and  leading,  indirectly, 
to  the  writing  and  production  of  one  of  the  best 
dramas  with  which  his  name  is  associated. 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    EMPIRE    THEATRE. 

About  March-May,  1892,  James  M.  Hill,  who  had 
been  managing  the  Union  Square  Theatre  since 
September  7,  1885,  being  in  financial  difficulties,— 
which  soon  caused  his  failure, — found  it  expedient 
to  dispose  of  his  interest  in  that  theatre,  which  he 
sold  to  his  brother,  Richard  Hill,  who  directed  it 
for  a  short  time,  beginning  June  6,  1892,  after 
which  it  was  hired  by  A.  Y.  Pearson  and  Henry 
Greenwall.  During  several  months  preceding  Hill's 
failure  a  lease  of  the  Union  Square  could  have 
been  obtained,  and  that  fact  was  generally  known 
in  the  theatrical  community.  William  Harris 
(1845-1916),  desiring  to  obtain  a  theatre  in  New 
.York,  and  knowing  that  Charles  Frohman  cher 
ished  a  like  ambition,  proposed  to  the  latter  that 
they  should  cooperate  and  lease  one.  Frohman 
agreed  to  this,  specifying  that  the  Union  Square  was 
available.  Harris  immediately  undertook  to  confer 
with  the  persons  then  in  control  of  that  house,  but, 
casually  meeting  Mr.  Al.  Hayman,  he  mentioned  the 


Photograph    by   Sarony.  Belasco's    Collection. 

MRS.  LESLIE  CARTER  AS  MISS  HELYETT 


THE  LIFE  OP  DAVID  BELASCO     401 

project  to  that  person.  In  a  concoction  of  records, 
errors,  and  idle  praise  which  has  been  put  forth  as 
a  "Life"  of  Charles  Frohman  the  following  account 
is  printed  of  the  conversation  which  ensued  between 
them: 

"  'That's  foolish,'  said  Hayman ;  'Everything  theatrical 
is  going  uptown.' 

"  'Well,'  answered  Harris,  « "C.  F."  wants  a  theatre,  and 
I  am  determined  that  he  shall  have  it,  so  I  am  going  over 
to  get  the  Union  Square.' 

"  'If  you  and  Frohman  want  a  theatre  that  badly,  I  will 
build  one  for  you,'  he  responded. 

"  'Where  ?'  asked  Harris. 

"  'I've  got  some  lots  at  Fortieth  and  Broadway,  and  it's 
a  good  site,  even  if  it  is  away  up-town.' 

"They  went  back  to  Frohman's  office,  and  here  was 
hatched  the  plan  for  the  Empire  Theatre." 

This  theatre  was  built  as  an  investment  by  Al. 
Hayman,  William  Harris,  and  Frank  Sanger.  The 
corner-stone  was  laid  in  May,  1892,  and  the  house, 
leased  by  Charles  Frohman  and  Messrs.  Rich  & 
Harris,  was  opened  under  the  direction  of  Froh 
man  eight  months  later.  That  enterprising  specu 
lator  in  public  amusement,  who  had  long  been 
eager  to  establish  himself  in  the  metropolis,  in  a  fine 
theatre  under  his  direct  control,  keenly  appreciated 
Belasco's  abilities,  and  at  the  time  when  the  new 
house  was  projected  was  associated  with  him  in  the 


402    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

presentment  of  Mrs.  Carter  in  "Miss  Helyett." 
Frohman's  main  interest,  however,  was  centred  in 
the  Empire,  and,  though  aware  that  Belasco  was 
preoccupied  with  work  on  "The  Heart  of  Mary 
land,"  he  urgently  requested  him  to  write  a  new 
play  with  which  to  open  that  theatre.  At  first 
Belasco  demurred  to  the  undertaking,  deeming  it 
essential  to  restrict  himself  to  the  work  he  had 
already  begun,  and  to  devote  all  his  strength  to  the 
establishment  of  Mrs.  Carter.  That  actress,  how 
ever,  hearing  of  Frohman's  proposal  and  appreciat 
ing  the  possible  advantage  that  might  accrue  to 
Belasco  from  his  acceptance  of  it,  insisted  that  he 
should  provide  the  play  for  the  opening  of  the 
Empire,  even  at  the  sacrifice  of  an  early  appearance 
for  herself.  The  upshot  of  the  negotiation  was 
Belasco's  agreement  to  write  the  desired  play,  in 
collaboration  with  his  friend  Franklyn  Fyles  (1847- 
1911), — then  dramatic  reviewer  for  "The  New  York 
Sun/'  "All  through  the  storm  of  malicious  lies 
that  Mrs.  Carter  and  I  had  to  weather,"  said 
Belasco,  "Fyles  had  been  sympathetic  and  kind  to 
us;  writing  under  the  pen-name  of  'Clara  Belle,'  he 
had  given  Mrs.  Carter  many  a  lift  and  helped  us 
a  lot.  I  was  grateful  and  I  wanted  to  help  him, 
if  I  could;  and  he  was  an  experienced,  good  writer, 
and  I  was  glad  to  have  him  to  help  me,  for  I  wanted 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     403 

'Charlie's'  venture  to  succeed,  and  I  felt  the  respon 
sibility." 

"THE    GIRL    I    LEFT    BEHIND    ME." 

The  result  of  that  collaboration  was  the  widely 
known  and  admired  drama  of  "The  Girl  I  Left 
Behind  Me," — the  title  of  which  was  suggested  by 
Daniel  Frohman.  "We  had  much  difficulty  in 
choosing  a  title  for  this  play,"  writes  Belasco;  "in 
fact,  we  had  none  as  we  neared  the  last  rehearsals. 
A  Fourth  of  July  celebration  occurs  in  the  First 
Act,  during  which  a  band  plays  'The  Girl  I  Left 
Behind  Me.'  Daniel  Frohman  was  in  front,  at  one 
of  the  rehearsals,  and  sent  me  a  slip  of  paper  on 
which  was  written  'The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me,' 
and  that  was  how  our  play  was  named."  Few 
persons,  I  believe,  hear  even  the  name  of  that  stir 
ring  air  without  a  thrill:  the  associations  with  it 
that  rise  in  any  sensitive  mind, — the  agony  of  solici 
tude,  doubt,  hope,  grief,  and  joy, — are  irresistibly 
affecting;  it  singularly  arouses  apprehension  and 
exultation,  and  its  association  with  this  play  is  spe 
cially  appropriate  because  of  its  relevancy  to  the 
desperate  military  enterprise  which  creates  the 
splendid  climax  of  the  drama. 

"After  I  had  agreed  to  write  the  opening  play  for 
Frohman,"  Belasco  has  told  me,  "I  said  nothing  of 


404     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

my  subject,  because  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  try 
to  bring  on  the  American  Stage  a  phase  of  Ameri 
can  life,  on  our  Western  frontiers,  involving  the 
American  Indian,  in  a  new  way;  I  didn't  want  dis 
cussion  and  I  dreaded  discouragement."  That, 
surely,  was  discreet,  because  it  is  immeasurably 
wiser,  where  works  of  art  are  concerned,  to  exe 
cute  them  rather  than  to  talk  about  them.  Belasco's 
interest  in  the  Indian  and  Indian  affairs  began  in 
his  childhood:  one  of  his  stepping-stones  into  the 
Theatre  was  his  performance  of  an  Indian  Chief,  in 
Hager's  "The  Great  Republic":  and  his  deter 
mination  to  undertake  depiction,  at  once  dramatic 
and  veritable,  of  an  aspect  of  actual  yet  romantic 
life  on  our  frontiers  displayed  sound  artistic 
taste  in  selection  of  a  theme  and  shrewd  judgment 
in  opening  a  fresh  field,  thitherto  practically 
untouched. 

At  that  time,  early  in  1892,  the  Indian  troubles 
in  the  West  were  much  in  the  public  mind.  The 
fierce  insurrections  of  1876,  under  the  leadership  of 
Sitting  Bull,  Crazy  Horse,  Spotted  Tail,  and 
others,  and  the  lamentable  slaughter  of  the  gallant 
Custer  and  his  intrepid  followers  in  the  terrible  bat 
tle  at  the  Little  Bighorn  (June  25,  that  year),  had 
not  been  forgotten.  Indeed,  they  could  not  be:  the 
rising  under  Sitting  Bull,  in  1890,  after  his  return 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     405 

from  Canada;  the  death  of  that  wily  old  Medicine 
Man,  who  was  shot,  December  15,  that  year,  with 
300  braves,  when  he  sought  to  escape,  during  the 
fight  at  Wounded  Knee;  the  resistance  to  disarma 
ment  and  the  frightful  massacre  at  the  Pine  Ridge 
Agency,  two  weeks  later;  the  vigilant  and  finally 
successful  movements  of  United  States  troops  under 
General  Nelson  A.  Miles,  against  the  Indians,  espe 
cially  the  Sioux,  incident  to  the  "Ghost  Dance" 
furor,  which  was  inspired  by  Sitting  Bull  and  which 
extended  through  1890-'91;  and  the  massacre  at  the 
Rosebud  Agency, — all  those  events  made  the  sub 
ject  unusually  prominent  in  the  public  mind. 
Belasco  and  Fyles  labored  zealously  at  their  task 
and  it  was  duly  completed ;  Frohman  enthusiastically 
expressed  himself  satisfied;  and,  on  January  25, 
1893,  the  Empire  Theatre  (thereafter,  till  the  day 
of  his  death,  that  manager's  headquarters)  was 
auspiciously  dedicated  with  a  performance  of  one 
of  the  most  deservedly  popular  plays  ever  produced 
under  his  management :  it  had  been  acted  for  a  week, 
beginning  January  16,  at  the  New  National  Theatre, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  in  preparation  for  the  New 
York  presentment. 


406     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

EXCELLENCE    OF    THAT    INDIAN    DRAMA. 

The  play  of  "The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me"  is 
among  the  best  with  which  Belasco  has  been  con 
cerned  and  likewise  one  of  the  best  that  have  been 
contributed  to  American  dramatic  literature.  Its 
superiority  to  all  the  problematic,  polemic,  didactic, 
sociologic  disquisitions,  pretending  to  be  plays, 
which  have,  of  late  years,  so  cluttered  our  Stage, 
is  very  great.  The  story  is  clear,  direct,  animated, 
sympathetic,  and  thrilling.  The  persons  introduced 
are  various,  natural,  interesting,  discriminated,  and 
finely  drawn.  The  greater  part  of  the  dialogue  is 
terse  and  characteristic.  The  scene  is  laid  in  the 
country  of  the  Blackfoot  Sioux,  in  Montana,  chiefly 
at  a  remote  and  lonely  outlying  United  States 
Army  Post;  otherwise  at  Fort  Assiniboine.  The 
chief  characters  are  Scar-Brow,  an  Indian  Chief, 
who  has  been  educated  in  civilization  and  bears  the 
name  of  John  Ledru,  but  whom  education  has  only 
made  more  bitter  and  revengeful,  and  who  has 
rejoined  his  malignant  tribe;  General  Kennion,  a 
veteran  of  the  United  States  Army,  in  command  of 
the  district  in  which  he  is  stationed;  Lieutenant 
Edgar  Hawksworth,  Lieutenant  Morton  Parlow, 
and  Kate  Kennion,  the  General 's  daughter.  Hawks- 
worth  is  a  gentleman  and  a  gallant  soldier.  Parlow 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     407 

is  a  specious  rascal,  as  yet  undetected.  Kate  Ken 
nion,  though  she  loves  Hawksworth,  has  promised  to 
marry  Parlow, — this  being  an  inscrutable  incon 
gruity  of  the  plot.  Parlow  has,  much  earlier, 
seduced  and  abandoned  the  wife  of  a  brother  officer, 
Major  Burleigh  by  name, — under  whose  command 
he  is  now  enrolled, — but  who  has  long  vainly  sought 
to  ascertain  the  identity  of  his  wronger. 

The  situation,  at  the  opening  of  the  play,  is  one 
of  unrest,  discontent,  and  impending  danger.  The 
Indians,  commanded  by  Scar-Brow,  are  sullen,  hos 
tile,  and  on  the  verge  of  revolt,  and  they  are  about 
to  participate  in  one  of  their  religious  ceremonials 
called  "The  Sun  Dance," — of  which  purpose  the 
military  authorities  in  Montana  disapprove.  A 
vague  sense  of  coming  calamity  broods  over  all  the 
region  and  whispers  of  peril  are  borne  on  every 
breeze.  A  formal  conference  is  held,  between  Gen- 
eral  Kennion  and  his  officers  and  Scar-Brow  and 
his  savage  warriors,  at  which  the  General  commands 
that  the  "Sun  Dance"  shall  not  take  place,  and 
from  which  the  Indian  Chieftain  then  angrily  and 
defiantly  withdraws.  The  time  is  the  Fourth  of 
July,  and  appropriate  arrangement  has  been  made 
for  a  patriotic  festival  and  ball,  at  the  Post.  Kate 
Kennion  has  come  from  the  Fort  and  joined  the 
ladies,  to  enjoy  the  festival.  There,  in  the  lonely 


408     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

outpost  of  civilization  in  Montana,  even  as  in  popu 
lous  and  brilliant  Brussels,  on  the  night  before 
Waterloo,  the  ball  begins,  even  while  the  menace  of 
danger  and  death  draws  ever  nearer.  Scar-Brow 
has  desired,  more  than  anything  else,  occasion  for 
an  outbreak.  After  the  angry  parting  from  Gen 
eral  Kennion  a  small  detachment  of  troopers  from 
the  Post  is  treacherously  and  through  the  cowardice 
of  Parlow  overwhelmed  in  an  ambuscade,  and  while 
the  guests  of  the  Post  are  dancing  and  frolicking  in 
one  room  General  Kennion,  in  another,  is  receiving 
dispatch  after  dispatch  by  telegraph  from  Fort 
Assiniboine  apprising  him  of  a  spreading  insurrec 
tion  among  the  Indians;  of  messengers  murdered, 
troops  embattled  against  overwhelming  odds,  inter 
cepted  appeals  for  help,  and  the  swiftly  approach 
ing  peril  of  an  Indian  besiegement  of  the  Post. 
Then,  suddenly,  telegraphic  communication  ceases 
and  the  yells  of  the  savages  denote  that  the  invest 
ment  of  the  stockade  has  begun.  One  hope — and 
but  one — remains:  that  of  apprising  the  Fort,  by 
messenger,  of  the  desperate  situation  of  the  Post. 
Lieutenant  Hawksworth,  every  chance  against  him, 
undertakes  to  attempt  the  passage  of  the  cordon  of 
Indians  surrounding  the  beleaguered  garrison,  and 
he  goes  forth,  to  almost  certain  death.  The  poor 
remains  of  white  men,  with  the  women  and  children, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     409 

are  left  to  face  hundreds  of  savages,  wrought  to 
frenzy  and  capable  of  demoniac  cruelty  almost 
equal  to  that  of  the  educated,  civilized  Germans  of 
the  present  day. 

Then  comes  one  of  the  most  effective  acts  of  the 
kind  that  I  have  ever  seen.  The  place  is  within  the 
stockade  of  logs  surrounding  the  Post.  There  has 
been  an  all-night  vigil,  with  fierce,  intermittent  fight 
ing.  The  time  is  just  before  daybreak.  The  first  faint 
gray  of  light  is  beginning  to  steal  into  the  sky ;  there 
is  a  reflected  glow  of  distant  fires,  and,  far  off,  yet 
clear  and  indescribably  horrible,  are  heard  the  "blip- 
blip"  of  the  Indian  war-drums  and  the  shrill,  hideous 
cries  of  the  savage  warriors,  working  themselves  to 
frenzy  for  the  last  murderous  rush  to  storm  and 
overwhelm  the  defenders  of  the  Post.  A  parley  has 
been  sought  with  Scar-Brow,  and  he  rides  up,  heard 
but  unseen,  in  the  slowly  growing  light,  contemptu 
ously  secure  and  safe  under  protection  of  the  white 
man's  flag  of  truce.  At  the  same  time  his  daughter, 
a  gentle  girl,  friendly  to  the  whites,  making  her  way 
into  the  fortress  to  bring  water  for  the  garrison,  has 
been  mistaken  for  a  foe,  has  been  fired  on  and  hit 
by  a  sentry  but  has  stoically  persevered  and  made 
her  way  in.  General  Kennion  speaks  from  the  stock 
ade  to  Scar-Brow,  warns  him  of  the  punishment  sure 
to  follow  his  rebellion,  and  appeals  to  him  to  restrain 


410    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

and  withdraw  his  rebellious  warriors.  The  savage 
is  bitterly  contemptuous  in  his  answer;  the  men 
within  the  Post  shall  die, — those  that  die  fighting 
the  fortunate  ones;  the  women,  in  particular  the 
General's  daughter,  shall  not  be  killed!  Kennion 
cries  out  to  the  ruffian,  warning  him  that  his  daugh 
ter,  little  Fawn  Afraid,  is  at  that  moment  in  the 
Post  and  that  she  is  hostage  for  the  safety  of  the 
women  and  the  garrison.  There  is  a  pause:  in  the 
reptile  nature  of  Scar-Brow  there  is  a  strong  affec 
tion  for  his  daughter ;  then  he  speaks :  "  Show  her 
to  me — let  me  see  her,"  he  demands;  and  as,  stand 
ing  unseen  outside  the  stockade  among  the  sage 
brush,  he  makes  this  demand,  his  daughter,  within, 
reels  and  falls  and  the  doctor,  tending  her,  whispers 
to  the  General  "  She's  dead,  sir! "  It  is  a  situation 
of  terrible  significance.  The  Indian  leader  waits  for 
a  moment,  then  he  denounces  the  General  as  a  liar, 
—and  the  next  instant  the  wild  hoof -beats  of  his 
horse  are  heard  as  he  gallops  away. 

A  situation  even  more  poignant  ensues.  There  is 
a  ripple  of  shots — then  a  pause.  Kate  Kennion 
steals  from  the  shadow  of  the  stockade :  she  has  heard 
the  parley, — she  knows  her  danger:  on  her  knees 
she  begs  her  loving  father,  brave,  noble  old  man, 
when  the  last  terrible  storm  of  attack  shall  come, 
when  there  is  no  other  alternative,  that  he  will,  with 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     411 

His  own  hand,  shoot  her  dead.  This  the  agonized 
father  promises  to  do.  Then,  suddenly  through  the 
heavy  silence,  bursts  the  infernal  din  of  the  Indian 
war-cries — the  increasing  crackle  of  rifle  shots — the 
devoted  garrison  answering,  while  ammunition  lasts, 
shot  for  shot — and  then  the  poor  old  father  takes 
his  daughter  in  his  arms,  kisses  her  farewell,  causes 
her  to  kneel,  bids  her  pray  to  God,  and  as, 
clasping  his  hand  in  both  hers,  she  sinks  upon 
her  knees  and  begins  the  Lord's  Prayer,  he 
slowly  draws  his  revolver:  "Our  Father  which 
art  in  heaven,"  the  poor  child's  lips  murmur 
— and  in  the  breathing  pause  is  heard  the  single 
sharp  click  of  the  pistol-hammer  being  raised — 
"hallowed  be  thy  name:  thy  kingdom  come" — and 
slowly  the  weapon  begins  to  turn  toward  her — "thy 
will  be  done  on  earth" — and  the  barrel  almost 
touches  her  temple — "as  it  is  in  heaven" — "WAIT!" 
— and  frantically  she  thrusts  the  pistol  from  her:  the 
father  believes  she  is  unnerved — wrenches  his  weapon 
free — is  about  to  do  his  deed  of  dreadful  mercy — his 
child  seizes  the  pistol  barrel — "WAIT — WAIT!"  she 
cries — and,  faint,  far-off,  yet  clear,  unmistakable, 
thrilling,  what  she  has  heard  before  is  now  heard  by 
the  audience — the  cavalry-bugle  blowing  "Charge!" 
Then  follows  the  rapidly  increasing  beat  of  horses' 
hoofs — the  crackle  of  rifle  fire,  fiercer  and  fiercer — 


412    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

the  wild  cries  of  the  savages — the  increasing  tumult 
of  galloping  steeds  as,  struck  behind,  they  break  and 
fly,  and  the  successful  Hawksworth  and  the  relieving 
reinforcements  sweep  up,  driving  the  enemy  before 
them  to  save  the  garrison  and  "The  Girl  I  Left 
Behind  Me." 

That  the  situations,  with  one  exception,  are  not 
new  is  known  to  all  persons  of  experience,  whether 
of  life  or  art.  The  situation,  invented  by  Belasco, 
of  the  death  of  Fawn  Afraid,  in  the  moment  when 
General  Kennion  warns  her  father,  Scar-Brow,  that 
her  life  and  safety  depend  upon  those  of  the  women 
and  the  garrison,  is  new;  the  others,  in  form,  are 
old:  the  ball  on  the  eve  of  battle  has  never  been 
more  imaginatively  used  than  by  Byron,  in  "Childe 
Harold";  the  representation  of  the  father  who  is  to 
kill  his  daughter  to  save  her  from  outrage  is,  in  sub 
stance,  Virginius  and  Virginia;  the  rescue  of  the  be- 
leagured  garrison  is  the  climax  scene  of  Boucicault's 
"Jessie  Brown;  or,  The  Relief  of  Lucknow"  over 
again,  with  a  difference.  But  what  of  it?  The 
dramatic  situations  possible  in  human  life  are  limited 
in  number.  In  "The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me"  the 
treatment  of  the  situations  is  fresh,  vivid,  vital.  I 
have  read  that  those  situations  are  made  to  order  and 
"merely  theatrical."  That  is  untrue.  There  is  not 
an  essential  situation  in  this  play  that  is  improbable, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     413 

for  there  is  not  an  essential  situation  or  experience 
in  it  that  might  not  happen,  nor  one  that  has  not 
happened  in  the  region  and  period  designated.  The 
play,  of  course,  has  faults,  and  they  are  as  obvious 
as  need  be,  to  please  even  the  most  captious  disciple 
of  detraction.  There  is  a  story  of  a  Mormon 
preacher  who  deemed  it  desirable  to  convince  his 
auditors  that  "the  Lord  was  but  a  man,  as  other 
men,"  and  who  undertook  to  do  so  by  citations  from 
Holy  Writ.  "The  Lord  saw''  he  quoted— therefore 
the  Lord  had  eyes;  "the  Lord  heard'9 — therefore  he 
had  ears;  "the  Lord  spake" — therefore  he  had  a 
mouth  and  vocal  organs;  "the  Lord  sat" — therefore 
the  Lord  had  hinder  parts,  and  so  following.  That 
is  very  much  the  method  of  criticasters :  they  clamber 
and  crawl  about  upon  a  work  of  art  with  a  foot-rule 
and  a  plumb-bob  of  censure,  and  seem  to  find  delight 
and  to  suppose  they  have  fulfilled  the  duty  of  criti 
cism  when  they  have  ascertained  and  enumerated 
the  defects  or  faults  of  the  work  under  considera 
tion.  The  impartial  critic,  on  the  other  hand,  who 
studies  "The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me"  will,  I  think, 
most  strongly  feel  a  mingled  regret  and  wonder  that, 
when  a  play  of  such  exceptional  merit  had  been 
created,  the  comparatively  small  and  easy  amount 
of  additional  labor  required  to  relieve  it  of  every 
considerable  defect  should  have  been  withheld.  The 


414     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

necessity  of  completing  it  in  a  definite  time  and 
Belasco's  anxious  and  harassed  situation  may,  no 
doubt,  explain  the  lack  of  needfully  scrupulous 
revision,  though  they  make  it  no  less  deplorable. 
The  "comedy"  elements,  the  passages  between  young 
Dr.  Penwick  and  Wilber's  Ann,  are  juvenile,  thin, 
and  weak,  and  (the  most  serious  fault  in  the  play, 
which  easily  could  have  been  obviated)  there  is  no 
adequate  reason  provided  why  Kate  Kennion,  loving 
Lieutenant  Hawksworth,  to  whom  eventually  she  is 
united,  Parlow  being  slain,  should  ever  have  engaged 
herself  to  wed  that  skulking  traitor.  But,  set  against 
it  every  objection  that  can  be  raised,  "The  Girl  I 
Left  Behind  Me"  remains  a  work  of  sterling  merit 
and  an  honor  to  its  authors.  The  atmosphere  is 
pure.  The  characters  are  veritable.  The  events  are 
credible.  The  sentiment  is  elemental  and  sincere. 
The  action  is  definite  and  fluent.  The  dramatic 
effect,  to  the  end  of  the  Third  Act,  is  cumulative 
and  thrilling.  The  treatment  of  the  different  per 
sons, — especially  of  Major  Burleigh,  General  Ken 
nion,  Kate  Kennion,  and  Scar-Brow, — is  remark 
ably  felicitous;  and  the  influence  is  stimulative  of 
manliness,  gallantry,  and  heroism.  The  play  was 
splendidly  stage-managed  and  superbly  acted, — the 
elements  of  illusion  and  thrilling  suspense,  in  the 
Second  and  Third  acts,  being  perfectly  created  and 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     415 

sustained.  A  remarkably  artistic  performance,  in 
stinct  with  authority,  power,  bitter  pride,  malev 
olence  and  cruelty,  was  given  by  Theodore  Roberts, 
as  Scar-Brow.  The  obnoxious  character  of  Lieuten 
ant  Parlow — an  exceedingly  well  dramatized  scoun 
drel — is  one  that  requires  a  fine  order  of  histrionic 
talent  for  its  adequate  representation,  and  that 
requirement  was  entirely  fulfilled  by  Nelson  Wheat- 
croft,  who  personated  him  with  minute  precision,  yet 
in  such  a  way  as  to  win  pity  for  his  weakness  and 
miserable  failure  and  death,  as  well  as  to  inspire 
antipathy  for  his  wickedness.  Sydney  Armstrong 
acted  with  inspiring  vigor  and  feeling  as  Kate  Ken- 
nion,  and  Frank  Mordaunt  with  force,  dignity,  and 
reticence  as  the  General.  Not  many  persons,  surely, 
could  have  gazed  on  the  climax  of  the  Third  Act 
of  this  play  without  tear-dimmed  eyes.  W.  H. 
Thompson,  who  played  Major  Burleigh,  gave  a  pict 
ure  of  sturdy,  simple  manhood,  suffering  with  forti 
tude,  such  as  has  seldom  adorned  our  Stage.  It  has 
ever  seemed  to  me  that  some  of  the  extreme  enthusi 
asm  generally  bestowed  on  "natural  method"  and 
'perfection  of  detail"  as  exemplified  in  the  perform 
ances  of  foreign  actors  on  our  Stage  might,  more 
justly,  have  been  bestowed  on  the  original  produc 
tion  of  "The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me."  There  was, 
however,  no  lack  of  general  appreciation.  The  play 


416    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEEASCO 

ran  at  the  Empire  till  June  24,  1893,  receiving  288 
consecutive  performances.  This  was  the  original 
cast: 

General  Kennion Frank  Mordaunt. 

Major  Burleigh Frank  Thompson. 

Lieut.  Edgar  Hawksworth William  Morris. 

Lieut.  Morton  Parlow Nelson  Wheatcroft. 

Dicks Thomas    Oberle. 

Orderly  McGlynn James  O.  Barrows. 

Private  Jones Orrin  Johnson. 

Dr.  Arthur  Penwick Cyril  Scott. 

Dick  Burleigh Master  "Wallie"  Eddinger. 

Andy  Jackson Joseph   Adelman. 

John  Ladru,  or  Scar-Brow Theodore  Roberts. 

Fell-An-Ox Frank  Lathrop. 

Silent  Tongue Arthur  Hayden. 

Kate  Kennion Sydney  Armstrong. 

Lucy  Hawksworth Odette  Tyler. 

Wilber's  Ann Edna  Wallace. 

Fawn  Afraid Katharine  Florence. 

After  the  first  week  Stella  Teuton  replaced 
Odette  Tyler  as  Lucy  Hawksworth;  and  on  March 
27,  28  and  (matinee)  29  Emmett  Corrigan  replaced 
Wheatcroft  as  Lieutenant  Parlow.  On  March  29, 
at  night,  the  play  was  acted  with  the  following  cast: 

General  Kennion.  .  . Maclyn  Arbuckle. . 

Major  Burleigh Mart  E.  Heisey. 

Lieut.  Edgar  Hawksworth Harold  Russell. 

Lieut.  Morton  Parlow. Henry  Herman. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     417 

Dicks G.  E.  Bryant. 

Orderly  McGlynn .  . J.  P.  MacSweeney. 

Private  Jones , Frank  Dayton. 

Dr.  Arthur  Penwick Harry  Mills. 

Dick  Burleigh.  ., , Master  George  Enos. 

Andy  Jackson T.  S.  Guise. 

John  Ladru,  or  Scar-Brow Harry  G.  Carleton. 

Fell-An-Ox William   Redstone. 

Silent  Tongue Arthur  Hayden. 

Kate  Kennion Mrs.   Berlan   Gibbs. 

Lucy  Hawksworth Irene    Everell. 

Wilber's  Ann Lottie  Altar. 

Fawn  Afraid Bijou  Fernandez. 

The  original  company  was  conveyed  to  Chicago, 
and  there,  during  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition 
in  that  city,  it  performed  "The  Girl  I  Left  Be 
hind  Me"  at  the  Schiller,  now  (1917)  the  Garrick, 
Theatre,  for  many  weeks. 


THE    VALUE     OF    SUGGESTION    IN    ART. 

In  the  stage  history  of  this  play  there  is  a  signifi 
cant  and  important  illustration  of  the  vital  prin 
ciple  in  dramatic  writing, — often  recognized  and 
expounded  by  Belasco,  yet  sometimes  by  him 
ignored, — of  the  value  of  suggestion  instead  of 
realism  in  creation  of  effect, — the  device,  that  is, 
so  well  expressed  by  Wordsworth  in  the  line  "part 


418    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

seen,  imagined  part."  Writing  with  regard  to  what 
he  learned  from  dramatization,  at  first  literal,  after 
ward  suggestive,  of  an  incident  witnessed  by  him 
during  his  wild  Virginia  City  days, — the  funeral 
of  a  poor,  misled  girl  who  died  in  a  vile  resort, — 
Belasco  says: 

"About  this  time  [l874-'75?]  I  think  it  was  that  I 
completed  my  play,  'The  Doll  Master,'  which  served  so 
many  emotional  actresses  on  the  road.  It  was  founded  on 
many  incidents  in  my  Virginia  City  career,  and  I  remem 
ber  how  much  I  made  of  the  scene  occurring  in  the  house 
of  Annie  Grier.  I  even  went  to  the  extreme  of  introducing 
the  casket  of  the  dead  girl,  and  her  weeping  companions 
around  it.  Then  it  was  that  I  learned  my  first  big  lesson 
in  suggestion — a  lesson  which  has  been  one  of  the  greatest 
that  has  ever  been  brought  home  to  me.  As  a  dramatist 
it  was  not  incumbent  on  me  to  show  everything  to  the  audi 
ence — only  enough  to  stimulate  the  imagination.  My  task 
was  to  let  the  audience  know  that  somewhere  near  was  the 
casket.  How  many  times  since  then  have  I  spent  hours  and 
hours  devising  the  best  means  of  thus  appealing  to  the 
imagination.  In  the  olden  days  when  there  was  a  battle 
scene  a  scanty  crowd  of  supers  was  marshalled  upon  the 
stage  in  farcical  fashion,  and  you  could  hear  the  tin  armor 
rattle  as  the  warriors  fought  half-heartedly.  This  matter 
of  suggestion  being  uppermost  in  my  mind,  it  occurred  to 
me  that  much  more  effect  could  be  gained,  as  far  as  pro 
portion  and  magnitude  were  concerned,  by  having  those 
fights  off  stage.  I  put  this  theory  of  mine  into  practice 
when  the  time  came  for  me  to  produce  my  'The  Girl  I  Left 
Behind  Me.'  The  audience  heard  the  Indians  chanting, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     419 

and  heard  the  approach  of  the  United  States  soldiers  off 
stage,  and  they  did  not  know  whether  there  were  ten  or 
ten  thousand  men  at  hand.  It  is  my  impression  that  this 
was  the  first  instance  of  suggested  warfare  seen  in  the 
East." 

The  principle  here  expounded  is  exactly  right, — 
and,  as  used  in  the  original  production  of  "The  Girl 
I  Left  Behind  Me,"  it  was  splendidly  successful. 
Yet  when  that  drama  was  revived,  March  12,  1894, 
at  the  Academy  of  Music,  where  it  ran  till  June  2, 
Belasco,  deferring  to  an  alleged  or  assumed  require 
ment  of  popular  taste,  introduced,  at  the  climax  of 
the  Third  Act,  a  troop  of  mounted  cavalry,  which 
dashed  upon  the  stage — and,  though  popular  enough 
with  the  "groundlings,"  spoiled  the  artistic  effect 
of  the  play. 

An  interesting  sidelight  with  regard  to  the  writ 
ing  of  "The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me"  is  provided  in 
the  following  fragment  of  reminiscence  by  Belasco, 
— though,  whether  consciously  or  not,  it  is  certain 
that  the  influence  of  Boucicault's  "Jessie  Brown" 
(which  he  had  produced  in  San  Francisco  in  his 
stock  company  days)  operated  on  his  mind  in  writ 
ing  his  Indian  drama: 


420    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

A    SUGGESTIVE    REMINISCENCE    OF     FRONTIER    DAYS. 

Writing  of  the  inception  of  this  play,  Belasco  says: 

"During  the  'Heart  of  Maryland'  days,  when  I  was  in 
the  South,  I  met  Mrs.  George  Crook,  widow  of  General 
George  Crook,  who  fought  in  the  Civil  War  and  afterwards 
gained  fame  as  an  Indian  fighter.  Mrs.  Crook  delighted 
in  relating  her  husband's  exploits  and  I  delighted  in  hear 
ing  them.  Her  tales  were  exciting,  and  the  general's  uni 
form,  his  sword  and  pistols,  his  boots  and  spurs,  made  the 
scenes  she  was  describing  very  convincing  and  in  my  mind 
I  dramatized  everything  she  told  me. 

"  'I  always  accompanied  the  general,'  said  Mrs.  Crook, 
'and  shared  many  of  his  dangers.'  Immediately  there  came 
before  me  the  spectacle  of  a  woman  within  easy  reach  of 
the  firing-line,  facing  the  anguish  and  uncertainty  of  never 
seeing  her  husband  alive  again,  and  her  own  terrible  fate 
if  the  battle  went  against  him.  One  incident  impressed  me 
particularly.  'The  general  had  rounded  up  a  band  of 
Indians  whom  he  had  been  pursuing  for  some  time,'  said 
Mrs.  Crook,  'and  the  place  where  he  was  to  give  them  battle 
was  so  close  to  our  camp  that  he  was  in  great  distress  for 
my  safety.  He  condemned  himself  bitterly  for  having  per 
mitted  me  to  come  with  him.  If  the  battle  were  lost,  we 
in  the  camp  would  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  Indians.  An 
orderly  was  holding  the  general's  horse,  but  my  husband 
could  not  bear  to  leave  our  tent.  Three  times  he  started 
and  returned.  He  and  I  once  made  an  agreement  that  were 
I  in  danger  of  being  captured  I  was  to  shoot  myself.  And 
now,  under  the  stress  of  great  necessity,  he  reminded  me  of 
the  compact,  and  saw  that  my  revolver  was  in  good  order. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     421 

We  read  the  Bible  together,  prayed,  kissed,  and  parted. 
All  through  the  night  I  sat  in  the  camp,  knowing  if  the 
battle  were  lost  I  must  die  before  the  savages  could  sur 
round  us.  I  heard  the  sounds  of  firing,  and  knew  the  fight 
ing  was  desperate.  After  hours  of  waiting  I  heard  hur 
ried  steps.  Some  one  was  running  towards  my  tent.  I 
grasped  my  pistol,  thinking  my  time  had  come.  "We've 
licked  'em,"  I  heard  a  soldier  cry.  He  had  been  sent  by 
the  general  to  tell  me  all  was  well.  I  sank  to  the  ground, 
overcome  by  the  relief,  after  the  suspense  I  had  endured. 
You  can  imagine  my  joy  when  the  general  came  back  to  me!' 
"I  had  always  intended  to  dramatize  this  adventure  of 
Mrs.  Crook's,  and  decided  to  do  it  now.  This  was  the 
inspiration  for  'The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me.'  " 


BELASCO    AND    CHARLES    FROHMAN. 

Belasco  and  Charles  Frohman  were  intimate 
friends  during  many  years.  Their  amicable  rela 
tions  continued  until  some  time  after  the  Theatrical 
Syndicate  became  operative,  and,  although  then 
temporarily  interrupted,  were  renewed  before  Froh- 
man's  death.  In  the  Spring  of  1893  Belasco,  con 
scious  of  crippling  restraint  in  his  activities  in  the 
atrical  business  life,  became  dissatisfied  with  Froh 
man,  particularly  as  to  his  managerial  connection 
with  the  presentment  of  Mrs.  Carter  in  "Miss 
Helyett."  Some  disquietude  occurred,  but  no  seri 
ous  dissension  arose,  as  the  following  letter,  showing 
Frohman  in  an  amiable  light,  sufficiently  indicates. 


422     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

This  epistle  relates  to  negotiations  concerning  pos 
sible  productions  in  London  of  "The  Girl  I  Left 
Behind  Me,"  "The  Heart  of  Maryland"  (then 
unfinished),  and  "The  Younger  Son," — the  latter 
being  meant  by  "your  new  play  that  goes  on  here 
at  the  Empire." 

A    CHARLES    FROHMAN    LETTER. 

(Charles  Frohman  to  David  Belasco.) 

"Empire  Theatre,  New  York, 

"June  15,  1893. 
"My  DEAR  DAVE: — 

"I  have  not  written  you  in  reply  to  your  second  letter 
to  me,  hoping  that  you  might  run  in  and  see  me.  Roeder 
tells  me  that  you  are  very  busy  on  your  play  and  could 
not  say  when  you  could  run  over  to  see  me. 

"First:  I  wish  to  say  that  I  have  made  no  arrangements 
in  London  for  the  production  of  'The  Girl  I  Left  Behind 
Me,'  or  the  new  play.  The  points  in  this  regard  I  prefer 
giving  you  personally. 

"Second:  I  extremely  regret  the  several  censures  you  have 
made  in  respect  to  my  end  of  the  work  in  connection  with 
'Miss  Helyett.'  I  do  not  think  that  you  have  given  me 
credit  for  the  absolute  personal  interest  in  the  matter  that 
I  have  taken,  as  far  as  you  are  concerned,  and  which  went 
far  beyond  the  business  part  of  the  enterprise.  I  think, 
viewing  the  fact  that  the  opera  itself  did  not  make  a  sensa 
tion,  that  I  stayed  with  you,  in  the  matter,  to  the  last,  and 
should  have  continued,  no  matter  how  long  we  were  together 
in  the  thing.  Whether  or  not  you  have  thought  over  these 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     423 

facts,  and  my  determination  in  the  matter,  when  you  see 
the  thing  from  the  start,  I  don't  know.  I  felt  that  you 
did. 

"Now  in  regard  to  the  new  play — 'Maryland' — I  want 
you  to  arrange  the  thing  in  any  way  that  you  like.  I 
prefer  losing  the  play  itself  to  your  friendship,  which  I  was 
in  hopes  was  strong  and  solid,  in  spite  of  everything.  I 
am  perfectly  willing  to  have  you  make  any  arrangement 
that  you  may  think  best  for  the  play.  I  would  rather  with 
draw  than  to  have  matters  in  a  business  way  come  up  during 
the  season  that  would,  in  any  way,  annoy  you,  as  far  as  I 
am  concerned,  and  which  constantly  seem  to  come  up,  when 
there  are  a  number  of  people  concerned  with  an  enterprise. 
I  say  to  you  again,  don't  consider  me  in  any  way;  but, 
under  any  circumstances,  I  should  like  to  do  the  following 
for  you,  if  you  feel  disposed  to  have  me  do  it  : 

"I  will  furnish  you  with  theatres  to  play  the  piece  in.  I 
will  absolutely  protect  the  route  for  you,  and  as  you  wish 
it,  in  any  way.  I  should  like  to  protect  the  piece  in  England 
for  you,  for,  if  it  is  very  successful,  it  would  do  no  harm  to 
spend  a  little  money  to  have  Mrs.  Carter  play  the  piece 
over  there,  three  or  four  weeks  next  Summer.  The  arrange 
ment  can  easily  be  made,  if  the  play  turns  out  what  you 
think  it  will.  I  should  like  to  furnish  you  with  any  people 
that  you  care  to  have,  that  I  may  have.  In  fact,  do  any 
thing  in  my  power  for  you,  or  continue  my  interest  in  any 
way  that  you  may  suggest;  but  it  is  impossible  to  give  the 
personal  time  and  attention  over  to  the  work  that  I  feel  you 
expect  of  me,  and  which  it  is  impossible  to  give ;  and  that  is 
the  reason  the  handling  of  plays  comes  so  easy.  When  they 
are  once  started,  I  do  not  have  to  give  them  attention.  If 
they  are  successful  [then],  the  season  will  run  [them] 
along  in  their  own  way.  At  any  rate,  I  am  entirely  in 


424    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

your  hands  in  regard  to  the  matter  and  hope  the  outcome 
may  be  that  it  will  not  interfere  with  the  friendship  that  I 
feel  sure  has  existed  between  us. 

"In  regard  to  my  announcement  on  my  return  here:  you 
will  notice  that  I  did  not  speak  of  your  new  play  that  goes 
on  here  at  the  Empire.  My  intention  was  simply  to  give  a 
list  of  the  work  I  had  accomplished  abroad,  because  the 
papers  insisted  upon  having  it.  If  I  could  have  had  my  own 
way  I  would  not  have  spoken  of  any  of  the  plays  I  have 
secured,  but  it  was  necessary  to  do  so,  and  as  the  list  looks 
very  English  and  French  I  prefix  my  remarks  by  showing 
a  list  of  American  authors  that  I  have  been  making  arrange 
ments  with,  previous  to  my  sailing,  so  as  to  show  that  I 
was  still  doing  American  work,  and  to  save  any  comment 
on  this  point; — and,  naturally,  [I]  consider  your  piece  to 
come  under  the  head  of  plays  that  I  had  already  made 
arrangements  for. 

"I  should  like  very  much,  if  possible,  for  you  to  give  over 
a  little  time  to  Unitt,  in  arranging  the  models  of  your  new 
play.  I  want  to  commence  on  same,  just  as  soon  as  Unitt 
is  through  with  his  present  work,  so  as  to  have  the  produc 
tion  ready,  when  we  open  with  'Liberty  Hall'  here. 
"Yours  truly, 

"CHARLES  FROHMAN." 


A    BAFFLED    ENTERPRISE    IN    CHICAGO. 

Belasco,  though  his  disagreements  with  Charles 
Frohman  were,  for  the  time,  amicably  adjusted, 
was  not  acquiescent  to  remain  in  a  position  which, 
continuously  maintained,  would  have  kept  him  still 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     425 

a  carrier  of  bricks  to  the  theatrical  buildings  of 
other  men.  He  was  now  forty  years  old.  For 
more  than  twenty  years  his  lot  had  been  chiefly  toil 
and  hardship:  experience  had  taught  him  that 
"living  is  striving":  abundant  opportunity  had  been 
provided  for  him  to  learn  the  truth  so  tersely  stated 
by  Wendell  Phillips  that  the  world  is  made  up  of 
two  kinds  of  persons, — those  who  do  things,  and 
those  who  stand  by  to  tell  others  how  things  should 
be  done.  Though  not  embittered,  he  was  in  danger 
of  becoming  so,  and  he  felt  more  than  ever  resolved 
to  make  a  place  for  himself  in  the  managerial  field, 
if  he  could  not  find  one.  "I,  too,"  he  has  said,  "as 
well  as  Charles  Frohman,  had  my  dreams  of  a 
theatre  of  my  own, — a  place  where  I  could  do 
things  in  my  own  way, — and  I  meant  to  have  it!" 
Finding  it  impossible  to  obtain  support  such  as 
he  desired  and  a  satisfactory  opening  in  New  York 
(notwithstanding  Charles  Frohman's  offer  to  fur 
nish  theatres  for  presentation  of  "The  Heart  of 
Maryland"),  Belasco  now  determined  to  try  R.  M. 
Hooley,  of  Chicago,  who  had  manifested  interest 
and  confidence  in  him,  during  the  engagement  in 
that  city  of  "The  Ugly  Duckling";  who,  perhaps, 
remembered  his  early  mistake  in  refusing  "Hearts 
of  Oak,"  and  who  certainly,  like  all  other  theatrical 
workers  of  the  time,  had  been  favorably  impressed 


426    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

by  the  success  of  "The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me." 
Belasco  at  first  wrote  to  Hooley  about  Mrs.  Carter, 
but,  later,  he  visited  Chicago,  for  the  purpose  of 
stating  his  project  in  detail.  There  he  found  that 
Mr.  "Harry"  Powers,  Hooley's  agent  and  business 
manager  of  his  theatre,  was  strongly  opposed  to  the 
idea  of  bringing  out  Mrs.  Carter  in  that  city. 
Powers  frankly  said:  "I  have  advised  Mr.  Hooley 
to  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  your  venture. 
This  is  the  most  fashionable  theatre  in  Chicago: 
Mrs.  Carter  is  not  wanted  here,  and  we  cannot 
afford  to  make  enemies."  Hooley,  however,  was  in 
a  more  propitious  mood,  and  expressed  himself  will 
ing  to  rely  on  Belasco's  judgment,  if  he  really 
believed  that  in  Mrs.  Carter  he  had  a  fine  actress 
and  also  that  he  had  a  suitable  new  play  in  which 
to  present  her.  Belasco  fervently  extolled  the  abil 
ity  of  Mrs.  Carter,  and  read  to  him  "The  Heart 
of  Maryland."  Hooley  was  favorably  impressed 
and  agreed  to  produce  the  play,  presenting  Mrs. 
Carter  in  the  central  part,  provided  that  Belasco 
would  agree  to  give  him  an  option  on  all  plays 
which  he  might  thereafter  write.  The  influences 
which,  later,  crystallized  in  the  Theatrical  Syndicate, 
were  already  beginning  to  make  themselves  felt  in 
the  theatrical  world,  and  Hooley,  like  many  other 
managers,  perceived  a  danger  and  was  wary  of  it. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    427 

"I  purpose  to  produce  my  own  'attractions,' "  he 
informed  Belasco,  "and  let  the  Eastern  producers 
go  hang!" 

Hooley  offered  fair  terms,  the  agreement  for  the 
presentment  of  Mrs.  Carter  as  a  "star"  in  "The 
Heart  of  Maryland"  was  formally  made,  and  thus 
cheered  and  encouraged  Belasco  returned  to  New 
York,  to  prepare  his  play  for  production  and 
engage  a  company  to  act  in  it.  "As  I  was  leav 
ing,"  he  said,  "Hooley  delighted  me  by  asking  me 
to  send  him  a  large  framed  portrait  of  Mrs.  Carter, 
to  hang  in  the  lobby  of  his  theatre."  In  New  York 
Belasco  read  his  play  to  Maurice  Barrymore  (1848- 
1905)  and  E.  J.  Henley  (1862-1898)  and  engaged 
them  for  the  company,  and  he  was  engaging  other 
members  thereof  when  Hooley  suddenly  died, — Sep 
tember  10,  1893.  Mr.  Powers  was  placed  in  charge 
of  the  theatre  which  had  been  Hooley's,  and,  as  he 
promptly  notified  Belasco,  made  a  long-term  con 
tract  with  Messrs.  Klaw  &  Erlanger  to  furnish  him 
with  "attractions"  for  that  house,  and  repudiated 
the  engagement  which  Hooley  had  made:  "I  was 
politely  kicked  out,"  said  Belasco,  "and  that  was 
the  end  of  that!  It  was  too  late  in  the  year  to  make 
new  arrangements  for  that  season  about  'Mary 
land,'  and,  besides,  I  didn't  know  exactly  what  to 
do  or  which  way  to  turn.  If  'The  Younger  Son,' 


428     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

— which  came  next  and  on  which  I  worked  hard, — 
had  proved  successful,  things  might  have  turned  out 
differently;  but  that  fizzled,  and  afterward  I  seemed 
to  be  just  as  far  as  ever  from  being  able  to  strike 
out  for  myself." 


"THE    YOUNGER    SON." 

The  Empire  closed  for  the  season  with  the  final 
performance  there  of  "The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me," 
and  reopened  on  August  21,  with  a  performance 
of  "Liberty  Hall,"  which  ran  till  October  23. 
Meantime,  Belasco,  having  heard  of  the  success  of 
a  German  play  entitled  "Schlimme  Saat"  ("Evil 
Seeds"),  had  bought  the  American  rights  and,  on 
receiving  the  manuscript, — knowing  that  Frohman's 
establishment  at  the  Empire  Theatre  was  not  yet 
entirely  secure,  and  being  wishful  still  further  to 
help  him, — had  immediately  laid  aside  "The  Heart 
of  Maryland"  and  addressed  himself  to  making  an 
English  version  of  the  German  drama.  "They 
proved  evil,  even  fatal,  seeds  to  me"  he  said.  "I 
know  now  that  six  months'  time  would  have  been 
little  enough  for  so  great  a  work,  but  I  made  a 
version  of  it  in  four  weeks,  working  night  and  day. 
When  it  was  completed,  I  took  the  play  to  'C.  F.' 
and  in  response  to  his  suggestion,  called  it  'The 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     429 

Younger  Son.' "  Why  Belasco  should  have  deemed 
this  German  play  a  "great  work"  I  do  not  under 
stand.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  tediously  prolix  and  some 
times  morbid  story  dealing  with  the  history  of  two 
brothers,  the  elder  a  selfish,  heartless  profligate,  the 
younger  an  ambitious  artist,  both  the  idols  of  a 
foolishly  fond  mother.  The  artist  is  delighted  by 
the  news  that  his  favorite  picture  (a  work  of  no 
special  merit)  has  been  bought  by  a  rich  picture 
fancier,  who  is  willing  to  send  him  to  Italy  to  study. 
This  apparent  benevolence  is,  in  fact,  a  plot  to  get 
him  out  of  the  way  and  rob  him  of  the  girl  he  loves, 
who  has  agreed  to  sell  herself  in  order  to  get  for 
him  this  opportunity  to  study  abroad.  In  Belasco's 
English  version  all  the  hydrostatic  pressure  that  the 
story  could  possibly  be  made  to  carry  had  been 
added,  but,  as  the  performance  of  "Evil  Seeds"  was 
a  complete  failure,  it  would  be  superfluous  to  dwell 
upon  it.  The  play  was  produced  at  the  Empire  on 
October  24  and  withdrawn  on  October  27,  after  four 
performances.  It  has  never  been  revived.  For  the 
purpose  of  record  the  cast  is  appended: 

Paul  KirTdand Henry  Miller. 

John  KirTdand James  E.  Wilson. 

Simeon  Brewster William  Faversham. 

ClarJcson  MacVeigh W.  H.  Thompson. 

Peter  Bogart W.  H.  Crompton. 


430    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Dick  Major Cyril   Scott. 

Nell  Armitage Viola  Allen. 

Mrs.  Kirkland Mrs.  D.  P.  Bowers. 

Margaret    Odette  Tyler. 

Dolly  Chester Edna  Wallace  Hopper. 

Agnes    Edith  Marion. 

Tommy Master  John  McKeever. 

Bess   Little  Percita  West. 

Writing  about  this  dismal  failure,  Belasco  says: 

"I  had  no  doubt  about  the  merits  of  the  First  and 
Second  acts,  but  the  Third  Act  needed  slow  and  careful 
work  in  the  writing.  The  fate  of  the  piece  depended  upon 
one  situation  in  this  Act, — a  period  of  about  two  minutes. 
With  this  situation  made  convincing,  the  play's  success 
was  assured.  On  the  opening  night,  everything  went  well 
up  to  this  point.  '  "C.  F.,"  I  whispered,  'if  we  pass  this 
crisis  we  are  safe.'  But  it  was  not  long  before  I  whispered 
disconsolately,  *  "C.  F.,"  we  have  failed.'  And  not  waiting 
for  the  supper  party  I  slipped  away  in  the  darkness  and 
walked  the  streets  all  night." 

The  next  day  Belasco  earnestly  advised  Frohman 
to  withdraw  the  play  at  once,  and,  after  brief  hesi 
tation,  this  was  done — "Liberty  Hall"  being  revived 
at  the  Empire,  and  Belasco,  presently,  turning 
again  to  work  on  "The  Heart  of  Maryland." 


Photograph  by  Sarony.  Belasco's   Collection. 

BELASCO,  ABOUT  1893 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     431 

FIGHTING    FOR    A    CHANCE. 

There  are,  I  believe,  few  instances  in  theatrical 
history  of  a  more  protracted  experience  of  the  "hope 
deferred"  which  "maketh  the  heart  sick"  than  befell 
Belasco  with  this  fine  melodrama.  The  subject, 
and,  roughly,  the  story,  of  that  play  were  in  his 
mind  when  first  he  undertook  the  training  and 
direction  of  Mrs.  Leslie  Carter  (1889) :  again  and 
again  he  endeavored  to  have  his  play  brought  on 
the  stage, — but  it  was  not  produced  till  more  than 
six  years  after  he  had  resolved  to  use  it  as  a 
vehicle  for  that  actress,  and  within  that  period  he 
altered  and  reshaped  it  at  least  four  times.  After 
the  death  of  Hooley  and  the  failure  of  "The 
Younger  Son"  he  was  for  some  time  dejected  and 
inert.  Then,  reviewing  the  manuscript  of  his 
"Maryland,"  he  imbibed  belief  that  the  play  lacked 
sufficient  verisimilitude  to  Southern  life.  "What  I 
needed  most,"  he  said,  "was  atmosphere;  so  I 
decided  to  visit  a  Southern  town  and  meet  some 
typical  Southern  families.  Mrs.  Carter,  her  mother, 
and  I  went  to  Oakland,  Maryland  [1894?],  where 
I  added  the  finishing  touches  to  the  play.  When 
we  reached  a  certain  point  I  bade  my  associates 
good-by  and  boarded  a  train  for  New  York,  to 
make  another  attempt  to  find  a  manager."  Speak- 


432     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

ing  of  the  experience  immediately  preceding  the 
actual  accomplishment  of  his  long  obstructed  pur 
pose,  Belasco  told  me:  "It  has  always  seemed  very 
strange  that  I  should  have  been  rebuffed  on  almost 
every  side  with  that  play.  If  there  did  not  exist 
a  strong  opposition  to  my  getting  an  independent 
foothold  as  a  manager,  why  was  my  play  of  'Mary 
land'  refused,  over  and  over  again?  Look  at  the 
list  of  successes  which  I  had  brought  out,  for  others, 
in  the  preceding  ten  years,  including  'La  Belle 
Russe,'  'May  Blossom,'  'The  Highest  Bidder,'  'The 
Wife,'  'Lord  Chumley,'  'The  Charity  Ball,'  'Men 
and  Women,'  and  'The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me/ 
Good,  bad,  or  indifferent — whatever  anybody  thinks 
about  them — there  is  no  room  for  argument  as  to  the 
business  proposition.  Those  were  all  great  big  popu 
lar  successes — money -getters.  Why,  when  I  was 
more  than  usually  hard-up,  I  had  been  able,  often,  to 
get  money  in  advance  on  my  royalties  on  plays  that 
had  not  even  been  begun.  Yet,  with  a  finished  play, 
a  good  one,  one  I'd  worked  on  for  years,  that  I 
knew  was  good  and  that  anybody  could  see  was 
good;  with  an  actress  for  whom  the  leading  part 
had  been  made  as  carefully  as  though  it  were  a 
dress  for  her  to  wear,  I  could  not  get  a  hearing.  I 
think  pretty  nearly  every  producing  manager  in 
New  York  refused  that  play.  Why?  I  never 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    433 

knew — and  I  don't  know  now:  yet  I  believed  then 
and  I  believe  now  that,  underlying  all  my  difficulty, 
was  far  more  than  any  antagonism  to  Mrs.  Carter; 
that  the  men  whom  afterward  I  fought  for  so  many 
years  were  glad  enough  to  have  me  work  for  them 
as  a  stage  manager  and  stock  playwright,  but  that 
they  were  not  willing  I  should  get  established  as  an 
independent  manager." 

This  view  of  Belasco's  position  has  been  stated 
before,  and  I  have  heard  it  ridiculed.  In  my  judg 
ment  the  record  of  facts  fully  supports  it.  It  can 
not  be  proved,  but  "if  imputation  and  strong  cir 
cumstances,  which  lead  directly  to  the  door  of  truth, 
will  give  you  satisfaction,  you  may  haveV  There 
is  the  record — and  readers  must  decide  for  them 
selves.  Writing  of  his  dark  days  in  1894,  Belasco 
has  declared: 

"My  private  possessions,  my  library  (containing  some 
very  valuable  historical  books), — my  few  antiques, — every 
thing — had  been  sold.  As  a  last  economy,  I  decided  to  give 
up  my  little  office  at  Carnegie  Hall.  'This  breaks  the  camel's 
back!  This  is  the  last  straw!'  Mrs.  Carter  said.  'Mr. 
David,  I'm  in  the  way.  They  want  your  manuscript,  but 
the  fact  of  the  matter  is,  they  won't  have  me.  You've  kept 
your  promise  and  done  all  you  could,  but  you  can't  do  any 
more ;  let  some  one  else  have  my  part.'  It  was  a  case  of  the 
blind  leading  the  blind,  but  I  refused  to  give  up. 

"I  left  her  and  walked  down  Broadway,  where  I  came  face 


434    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

to  face  with  Paul  Potter.  'Dave,'  he  exclaimed,  'I  was 
looking  for  you.  A.  M.  Palmer  has  been  very  unfortunate 
of  late  and  needs  a  play.  Read  "The  Heart  of  Maryland" 
to  him.' 

"In  less  than  an  hour  Paul  Potter  and  I  were  on  our  way 
to  Stamford.  At  last  my  luck  had  turned !  Palmer  accepted 
my  play." 

Negotiations  with  Palmer, — who  at  the  time  of 
Belasco's  withdrawal  from  the  Lyceum  Theatre  had 
been  sympathetic  with  him,  had  placed  the  stages 
of  two  theatres  at  his  disposal  for  rehearsal  of  Mrs. 
Carter,  and  had  even  then  shown  some  interest  in 
the  projected  play, — were  brought  to  a  satisfactory 
issue,  and,  in  August,  1894,  a  contract  was  for 
mally  made  whereby  Palmer  agreed  to  produce 
"The  Heart  of  Maryland,"  "with  his  own  stock 
company,  known  as  'A.  M.  Palmer's  Stock  Com 
pany,'  at  Palmer's  Theatre,  in  the  City  of  New 
York,  not  later  than  January  1,  1895,"  and  also 
agreed  that  whether  in  New  York  or  elsewhere 
Mrs.  Carter  should  be  employed  "to  play  the  part 
entitled  Maryland  Calvert"  Active  preparations  to 
produce  "The  Heart  of  Maryland"  immediately 
were  begun;  scenery  was  designed,  built  and  painted, 
involving  an  investment  of  more  than  $3,500;  but 
Palmer  was  heavily  involved,  financially,  and  the 
rehearsals,  which  Belasco  was  eager  to  begin,  were 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     435 

postponed  from  week  to  week.  At  last  the  date 
limit  specified  in  the  agreement  passed,  yet  Belasco 
continued  to  hope  and  to  expect  that  Palmer  would 
fulfil  his  agreement.  One  day,  however,  happen 
ing  to  meet  Charles  Frohman,  that  manager  told 
him:  "I  am  very  sorry  for  you,  but  Palmer  won't 
be  able  to  produce  "The  Heart  of  Maryland.' ' 
Belasco  at  once  went  to  Palmer  and  asked  him  to 
state  his  purpose, — "Because,"  he  said,  "I  mean 
that  play  shall  be  produced!  If  you  can't  do  it — 
somebody  else  can."  Palmer,  foreseeing  the  success 
of  the  play,  wished  to  hold  it ;  if  Belasco  could  have 
been  given  any  reasonable  assurance  that,  event 
ually,  the  elder  manager  would  be  able  to  bring  it 
out,  he  would  have  been  glad  to  wait;  but,  after 
some  hesitation,  Palmer  admitted  that  he  could  not 
set  any  definite  time,  manifesting,  at  first,  a  dispo 
sition  to  prevent  Belasco  from  placing  his  drama 
elsewhere.  Realizing,  however,  that  the  passage  of 
the  date-limit  within  which  he  had  agreed  to  pro 
duce  the  play  had,  in  fact,  released  Belasco  from 
his  contract  with  him,  he  finally  acquiesced,  asking 
the  latter  to  take  and  pay  for  the  scenery  whicji 
had  been  made  for  it.  This  Belasco  promised 
should  be  done,  as  soon  as  the  play  was  produced. 
Once  more  opportunity  had  seemed  to  be  within 
his  grasp:  once  more  it  eluded  him:  yet  he  perse- 


436    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

vered  and  resolutely  resumed  his  quest  of  a  pro 
ducer.  Writing  of  the  manner  in  which,  at  last, 
some  months  after  the  collapse  of  the  arrangement 
with  Palmer,  he  found  one,  Belasco  has  recorded 
incidents  of  his  search  and  the  process  of  his  ulti 
mate  success: 


"One  day  I  met  Mr.  Henry  Butler  in  New  York.  He 
suggested  that  we  interest  wealthy  men  and  form  a  stock 
company.  'But  let's  try  another  plan  first,'  he  said.  At 
this  time  three  enterprising  young  men  were  the  lessees  of 
the  Herald  Square  Theatre.  They  were  'Charlie'  Evans, 
who  made  a  fortune  with  Hoyt's  'A  Parlor  Match,'  F.  C. 
Whitney,  and  Max  Blieman,  a  picture  dealer.  They  opened 
the  house  with  a  musical  comedy,  but  wanted  to  produce  a 
'straight'  drama.  'I'll  go  down  and  see  them  myself,'  Butler 
volunteered,  'and  you  wait  here  for  me.'  He  brought  back 
good  news.  'They  have  confidence  in  you,'  was  the  cheerful 
message,  'and  they  are  willing  to  "gamble."  ' 

"Blieman  called  on  Palmer  and  paid  cash  for  the  scenery 
made  at  the  time  Palmer  intended  to  produce  the  play.  The 
play  was  to  be  the  opening  attraction  at  the  Herald  Square, 
under  joint  management. 

"But  early  in  the  summer  Blieman  sent  for  me.  'Whitney 
has  "cold  feet",'  he  remarked,  'and  has  dropped  out.'  'There 
are  still  two  of  you  left,'  I  answered.  Several  weeks  after 
this  Blieman  sent  for  me  again  and  this  time  he  was  in 

despair.  'Charlie's  dropped  out  now,'  he  said ;  'but  by 

I  believe  in  the  play  and  I'll  stick.  .  .  . ' 

"The  opening  took  place  in  Washington;  and  as  I  could 
not  get  into  the  theatre  before  Sunday  we  were  not  ready 


THE  LIFE  OF.  DAVID  BELASCO     437 

to  open  until  the  middle  of  the  week.  We  practically  lived 
in  the  theatre.  We  made  a  great  sensation  on  the  opening1 
night,  but  Washington,  unfortunately,  was  in  the  grip  of  a 
financial  panic,  and  the  houses  in  consequence  were  very  poor, 
— so  poor,  indeed,  that  Blieman's  pocket  was  empty.  He  was 
obliged  to  confess  that  he  had  not  enough  money  left  to 
send  the  company  back  to  New  York.  So  here  we  were, — 
stranded,  billed  to  open  in  New  York  on  Monday  night  and 
no  money  to  get  there. 

"Blieman  summoned  courage  and  made  a  hasty  trip  to 
New  York  to  try  to  raise  some  money,  and  when  I  saw  him 
in  the  evening  he  was  all  smiles.  'What  do  you  think,'  he 
confided  to  me,  'I've  just  borrowed  fifteen  hundred  dollars 
from  "Al"  Hayman  on  a  picture  worth  thirty  thousand.' 
Here  was  a  boy  after  my  own  heart!  The  fifteen  hundred 
dollars  enabled  us  to  return  to  New  York,  and  at  last  the  poor 
old  storm-tossed  'Heart  of  Maryland'  had  its  metropolitan 
opening — on  the  strength  of  a  pawned  painting!" 

"The  Heart  of  Maryland"  was  acted  for  the  first 
time  anywhere  at  the  Grand  Opera  House,  Wash 
ington,  D.  C.,  October  9,  1895;  and  the  first  per 
formance  of  it  in  New  York  occurred  on  October 
22,  that  year,  at  the  Herald  Square  Theatre.  It  is 
a  meritorious  and  highly  effective  melodrama,  and 
its  New  York  production  marks  a  vital  point  in 
the  career  of  its  indef atigible  and  brilliantly  accom 
plished  author.  When  the  curtain  rose  on  its  first 
performance  in  the  metropolis  he  had  been  for 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  toiling  in  the  Theatre, 


438     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

working  in  every  capacity  connected  with  the  Stage; 
he  had  written  and  produced,  for  others,  plays 
which  had  received  thousands  of  representations  and 
to  see  which  several  millions  of  dollars  had  been 
paid:  yet  he  was, — through  no  fault  of  his,  no 
improvidence,  dissipation,  reckless  neglect  or  abuse 
of  talent, — still  a  struggling  author,  without  recog 
nized  position,  without  place  or  influence  in  the  field 
of  theatrical  management,  and  so  poor  that,  if  the 
venture  failed,  he  had  no  better  prospect  than 
renewed  drudgery  in  a  subservient  place,  working 
for  the  profit  and  aggrandizement  of  men  vastly 
inferior  to  himself  in  every  way.  Perhaps  the  best 
explanation  of  and  commentary  on  this  fact  were 
supplied,  several  years  later,  when,  testifying  in 
court  during  trial  of  a  lawsuit  of  his  against  the  late 
Joseph  Brooks,  he  said  of  himself: 

"I  have  long  been  connected  with  the  theatrical  business 
and  know  its  customs,  but  I  know  more  about  the  stage  part 
of  it  than  I  do  about  the  business  side.  I  have  been  a  man 
ager  for  twenty-five  years,  and  have  always  managed  to  get 
the  worst  of  my  business  affairs." 

STORY    AND    PRODUCTION    OF    'THE    HEART    OF    MARY 
LAND."— ITS    GREAT    SUCCESS. 

"The  Heart  of  Maryland"  belongs  to  the  class 
of  post-bellum  plays  represented  in  the  years  imme- 


Photograph  by   Sarony.  Belasco's   Collection. 

MRS.    LESLIE    CARTER,    ABOUT    1895 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     439 

diately  following  the  close  of  the  American  civil 
conflict  by  Boucicault's  "Belle  Lemar"  (which  was 
first  acted  at  Booth's  Theatre  August  10,  1874), 
and,  more  recently,  by  Howard's  "Shenandoah"  and 
Gillette's  "Held  by  the  Enemy," — being  much  supe 
rior  to  both  the  latter  dramas.  The  scene  of  that 
play  is  in  and  near  an  old  Colonial  homestead, 
called  "The  Lilacs,"  inhabited  by  the  Calvert  family, 
at  Boonsboro,  Maryland,  in  the  Spring  of  1863.  It 
is  comprised  in  four  acts  and  six  scenes,  requiring 
five  sets  of  scenery  for  their  display.  Its  action 
passes  within  about  thirty-six  hours  and  implicates 
about  thirty  persons,  of  whom  five  are  important, 
— namely  General  Hugh  Kendrick,  Colonel  Alan 
Kendrick,  his  son,  Colonel  Fulton  Thorpe,  Lloyd 
Calvert,  and  Maryland  Calvert.  Maryland  and 
'Alan  Kendrick  are  lovers  and  have  been  betrothed, 
but  she  is  passionately  devoted  to  the  Southern 
cause,  while  he  ardently  supports  that  of  the  North, 
— holding  rank  as  a  colonel  in  the  Federal  Army, — 
and  their  political  difference  has  divided  them, 
though  without  lessening  their  love.  In  the  First 
Act  Alan,  who  has  been  captured  by  the  Rebels 
and  imprisoned  at  Dansville,  is  exchanged  and,  in 
passing  through  Boonsboro  on  the  way  to  the 
Union  lines,  he  meets  both  his  sweetheart,  Maryland, 
and  Colonel  Thorpe.  Thorpe,  a  Northern  spy 


440    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

and  a  double  traitor,  whom  Alan  has  publicly 
flogged  for  blackguardly  conduct  and  then  caused 
to  be  drummed  out  of  his  regiment,  holds  rank  as  a 
colonel  in  the  Rebel  Army.  In  revenge  for  the 
humiliation  to  which  he  has  been  subjected  Thorpe, 
expedites  the  transport  of  Alan  and  other  exchanged 
Federal  prisoners,  so  that  they  shall  be  conveyed 
immediately  to  Charlesville, — his  purpose  being  thus 
to  cause  their  death  along  with  that  of  the  entire 
garrison  at  that  place,  which  General  Kendrick,  in 
command  of  an  overwhelming  Confederate  army, 
purposes  to  surprise  by  night  and  utterly  to  destroy. 
Lloyd  C divert,  unknown  to  his  family,  is  a  Northern 
spy.  He  has  learned  of  General  Kendrick's  plan 
and  seeks  to  warn  the  Federal  forces  at  Charlesville. 
Unable  to  do  so,  he  informs  Maryland  of  the  pro 
jected  assault  and  she,  to  save  her  lover,  communi 
cates  knowledge  of  the  impending  danger  to  him, 
thus  causing  the  failure  of  the  surprise  attack. 

In  the  Second  Act  Alan, — supposing  that  the 
Confederate  Army  has  moved  away — rashly  returns 
to  Boonsboro,  desiring  to  effect  reconciliation  with 
his  sweetheart.  Lloyd,  trying  to  bring  about  a 
meeting  between  the  lovers,  speaks,  ambiguously, 
to  Maryland  about  "a  Northern  friend"  whom  he 
wishes  her  to  meet  for  him  and  "detain."  Later, 
while  trying  to  make  his  way  to  the  Union  lines 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     441 

with  important  information,  Lloyd  is  shot  and, 
dying,  is  detected  as  a  spy:  Alan  is,  meantime, 
recaptured,  wearing  the  hat  and  overcoat  of  a  Con 
federate  officer,  and  Maryland,  unaware  of  his  iden 
tity  and  thinking  to  clear  her  brother's  reputation 
as  a  loyal  Southerner,  denounces  the  prisoner  to 
General  Kendrick  as  the  real  spy.  Alan,  by  order 
of  his  father,  is  then  tried  by  court-martial  and  con 
demned  to  death. 

In  the  Third  Act  Maryland  makes  her  way  into 
the  Union  lines  and  obtains  from  General  Hooker, 
there  commanding,  a  letter  to  General  Kendrick 
certifying  that  the  presence  of  his  son,  Colonel  Ken 
drick,  within  the  Confederate  lines,  was  due  to  a 
personal,  not  a  military,  motive, — in  short,  that  Alan 
is  not  a  spy.  Returning  with  this  letter  to  her  home, 
which  has  become  Confederate  Headquarters,  Mary 
land  finds  that  General  Kendrick  has  been  killed  in 
action  and  that  Colonel  Thorpe  is  in  command. 
Thorpe,  whom  she  visits  in  his  quarters  in  the  old 
church  of  Boonsboro, — part  of  which  is  also  used 
for  confinement  of  military  prisoners, — and  to  whom 
she  appeals  for  mercy,  perceiving  that  Hooker's  let 
ter,  if  it  should  reach  any  Confederate  officer  other 
than  himself,  would  imperil  his  own  life,  not  only 
refuses  a  reprieve  for  Alan  Kendrick  but  orders 
that  execution  of  the  death  sentence  be  hastened. 


442     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Then,  half  drunken  and  wholly  bestial,  he  insults 
the  unfortunate  Alan,  who,  pinioned  and  helpless, 
is  on  his  way  to  the  gallows  and,  in  his  presence, 
threatens  his  sweetheart  with  outrage.  Maryland, 
in  desperation,  defending  herself,  stabs  Thorpe  with 
a  bayonet  (a  weapon  ingeniously  introduced  for  this 
purpose  among  the  articles  accessory  to  the  stage 
setting,  being  thrust  into  a  table-top  and  used  as 
a  candlestick),  wounding  and  disabling  him.  She 
then  liberates  Alan,  who  makes  his  escape.  Thorpe, 
rallying,  orders  the  church-bell  rung,  a  prearranged 
signal  warning  all  sentries  that  a  prisoner  has  broken 
jail;  but  Maryland,  making  her  way  to  the  belfry, 
seizes  the  clapper  of  the  great  bell  and,  thus  enacting 
the  devoted  expedient  of  Bessie,  in  "Curfew  Must 
Not  Ring  To-night,"  prevents  the  alarm  and  enables 
her  lover  to  make  good  his  escape. 

In  the  Fourth  Act  Thorpe's  double  duplicity  has 
been  discovered  in  the  Rebel  capital  and  he  is 
ordered  under  arrest  by  General  Lee;  the  Confed 
erate  troops,  defeated  in  a  general  engagement,  are 
forced  to  evacuate  Boonsboro,  and  the  play  ends 
with  a  prospective  reconciliation  of  the  lovers. 

"The  Heart  of  Maryland,"  though  somewhat 
intricate  in  its  story  (only  the  main  thread  of  which 
has  been  followed  in  the  above  recital),  is  compact 
in  construction,  fluent  and  cumulative  in  dramatic 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    443 

movement  and  interest,  written  with  profound  sin 
cerity  and  contains  passages  of  tender  feeling  and 
afflicting  pathos.  The  "Curfew"  expedient,  if,  in 
cool  retrospect,  it  seems  a  little  artificial,  is,  in  repre 
sentation,  a  thrillingly  effective  climax  to  an  affect 
ing  portrayal  of  distress  and  danger.  The  first  pict 
ure,  exhibiting  the  ancestral  home  of  the  Calvert 
family,  an  old  Colonial  mansion,  deep-bowered 
among  ancient,  blooming  lilac  bushes  and  bathed  in 
the  fading  glow  of  late  afternoon  and  sunset  light, 
was  one  of  truly  memorable  loveliness.  Indeed,  the 
scenery  investment,  throughout,  was  of  exceptional 
beauty  and  dramatic  appropriateness,  and  the  mani 
fold  accessories  of  military  environment,  with  all 
"the  proud  control  of  fierce  and  bloody  war," — 
the  suggested  presence  and  movement  of  large  bodies 
of  infantry  and  cavalry;  the  denoted  passage  of 
heavy  artillery;  the  stirring  sounds  of  martial  music 
and  of  desperate  battle;  the  red  glare  and  dun 
smoke-pall  of  conflagration,  and  the  various  employ 
ment  and  manipulation  of  light  and  darkness  to 
illustrate  and  intensify  the  dramatic  theme, — were 
extraordinarily  deft  in  devisement  and  felicitous  in 
effect.  Belasco  was  also  peculiarly  fortunate  in 
selection  of  the  actors  who  performed  the  principal 
parts  in  his  play.  The  handsome  person  and  pict 
uresque,  romantic  mien  of  Maurice  Barrymore, 


444    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

who  appeared  as  Alan  Kendrick,  were  perfectly 
consonant  with  that  character;  John  E.  Kellerd  gave 
an  impersonation  of  remarkable  artistic  merit — 
true  to  life  and  true  to  the  part — as  the  despicable 
yet  formidable  scoundrel  Thorpe,  and  Mrs.  Carter, 
profiting  richly  by  the  zealous  schooling  of  her 
mentor,  embodied  Maryland  Calvert  at  first  in  a 
mood  of  piquant  playfulness,  veiling  serious  feeling, 
then  with  genuine,  wild  and  intense  passion.  This 
was  the  cast  in  full  of  the  performance  at  the  Herald 
Square  Theatre: 

General  Hugh  Kendrick Frank  Mordaunt. 

Colonel  Alan  Kendrick. . Maurice  Barrymore. 

Colonel  Fulton  Thorpe John  E.  Kellerd. 

Lieutenant  Robert  Telfair Cyril  Scott. 

Provost  Sergeant  Blount Odell  Williams. 

Tom  Boone Henry  Weaver,  Jr. 

Lloyd  Calvert Edward  J.  Morgan. 

The  Sexton John  W.  Jennings. 

Uncle  Dan'l Scott  Cooper 

Captain  Leighton A.  Pearson. 

Captain  Blair A.  C.  Mora. 

Lieutenant  Hayne. . W.  H.  Foy. 

f  Frank  Stanwick. 
Aide s-de-C 'amp  to  General  Kendrick .  .  .  .  -^  Robert  Mclntyre. 

L  William  Johnson. 

Corporal  Day Edwin  Meyer. 

Corporal H.  E.  Bostwick. 

Bludsoe. . Edwin  F.  Mayo. 

Little  True  Blue "Johnny"  McKeever. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    445 

O'Hara J.  H.  Hazelton. 

Ruggles Thomas  Matlock. 

Forbes Joseph    Maxwell. 

Phil Joseph  A.  Webber. 

Sentry E.  J.  Boyce. 

Scout C.  H.  Robertson. 

Mrs.  Clairborne  Gordon Helen  Tracy. 

Maryland  Calvert Mrs.  Leslie  Carter. 

Phoebe   Yancey Georgie  Busby. 

Nanny  McNair Angela  McCall. 

Popular  approval  of  the  representation  was  imme 
diate  and  bounteous  and  there  was  little  critical 
cavilling  in  the  press.  On  the  first  night  in  New 
York,  after  the  Third  Act,  the  audience  many  times 
called  the  entire  company  before  the  curtain  and, 
at  last,  Belasco,  in  an  obviously  painful  state  of 
nervous  excitement,  responding  to  vociferous 
demands,  made  a  brief  and  grateful  speech,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  said: 

"It  is  very  difficult  for  me  to  speak,  to  thank  you.  Your 
kind  and  generous  approval  to-night  means  so  very,  very 
much  to  Mrs.  Carter  and  all  the  splendid  company  that  has 
worked  so  loyally  for  the  success  of  this  play.  It  means 
more  to  me  than  any  words  of  mine  can  say.  This  produc 
tion  to-night  is  the  culmination  of  twenty-five  years  of  work ; 
of  hara,  hard  work  and  often  bitter  disappointment.  I 
have  been  a  supernumerary,  a  call  boy,  an  actor,  a  stage 
manager  for  others,  an  adapter  of  plays :  now  I  am  encour 
aged  to  hope  I  have  proved  myself  a  dramatist.  ...  It 


446    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

is  many  long  years  since  I  first  dreamed  of  an  independent 
success  in  New  York — a  success  I  might  keep  in  my  own 
hands.  If  this  is  at  last  the  turning  of  the  tide  that  leads 
on  to  fortune,  I  shall  never  forget  my  debt  to  you:  I  shall 
strive,  as  long  as  I  live,  to  give  you,  to  give  the  people  of 
this  great  and  wonderful  city,  not.  only  the  best  there  is 
in  me  but  the  very  best  the  Theatre  can  give.  Thank  you 
from  my  heart !  I  thank  you — I  thank  you !" 

It  was,  indeed,  "the  turning  of  the  tide."  "The 
Heart  of  Maryland"  was  played  at  the  Herald 
Square  Theatre  for  229  consecutive  performances, 
and  it  occupied  a  large  part  of  Belasco's  time  and 
attention  during  the  period  of  about  two  years  which 
followed  its  New  York  production. 

The  season  ended  at  the  Herald  Square  on  May 
16,  1896.  From  about  that  date  until  June  23 
Mrs.  Carter  and  Belasco  underwent  the  painful 
ordeal  incident  to  trial  of  his  lawsuit  against  N.  K. 
Fairbank, — which,  as  already  recorded,  terminated 
on  the  latter  date  with  a  verdict  in  favor  of  the 
manager.  In  the  course  of  the  next  six  weeks 
Belasco  made  a  revision  of  Clay  M.  Greene's  "Under 
the  Polar  Star,"  which  was  produced  by  William 
A.  Brady,  August  20,  at  the  New  York  Academy 
of  Music.  On  October  5,  at  the  Broad  Street,  Phila 
delphia,  the  first  tour  of  "The  Heart  of  Maryland" 
was  begun,  under  the  personal  direction  of  its  author. 
That  tour  was  everywhere  amply  successful  and  it 


Photograph  by   Sarony. 


Belasco's  Collection. 


MRS.  LESLIE  CARTER  AS  MARYLAND  CALVE RT, 
IN  "THE  HEART  OF  MARYLAND" 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     447 

lasted  without  special  incident, — except  that  toward 
its  close  Belasco  purchased  (April,  1897)  the  inter 
est  of  Mr.  Max  Bleiman  in  the  production, — until 
the  following  May  1.  The  season  was  ended  on 
that  date  at  the  Grand  Opera  House,  New  York, 
and  Belasco  soon  afterward  visited  San  Francisco. 
The  third  season  of  "The  Heart  of  Maryland" 
began  at  the  scene  of  so  much  of  his  early  experi 
ence,  the  Baldwin  Theatre,  in  that  city,  August 
17,  and  continued  in  unabated  prosperity  for  about 
seven  months. 


"THE    FIRST    BORN."— A    SUCCESS    AND    A    FAILURE. 

While  Belasco  was  in  San  Francisco  he  wit 
nessed  several  performances  of  a  play  called  "The 
First  Born,"  written  by  Francis  Powers,  which  had 
been  produced,  May  10,  under  the  management  of 
his  brother,  Frederick  Belasco,  at  the  Alcazar 
Theatre,  and  he  was  so  favorably  impressed  with 
its  merits  that  he  arranged  to  present  that  drama, — 
which  ran  for  ten  weeks  in  San  Francisco, — in  New 
York,  in  association  with  Charles  Frohman.  That 
arrangement  was  successfully  consummated,  at  the 
Manhattan  (previously  the  Standard)  Theatre, 
October  5,  1897.  "The  First  Born"  is  a  tragic 
sketch  of  character  and  life  in  the  Chinese  quarter 


448    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

of  old  San  Francisco, — a  region  with  which  the 
acquaintance  of  Belasco  was  peculiarly  intimate  and 
exact  and  one  of  which  the  mingled  squalor  and 
romance  had  always  strongly  attracted  him.  The 
posture  of  circumstances  and  experience  depicted  in 
that  play  is  simple  and  direct.  Man  Low  Yek,  a 
rich  Chinese  merchant,  has  stolen  Chan  Lee,  the 
wife  of  Chan  Wang,  also  a  Chinese  and  a  dweller 
in  the  Chinatown.  That  ravagement  Wang  has 
borne  with  equanimity;  but  when  Chan  Lee,  return 
ing  to  San  Francisco  with  her  paramour,  entices 
Chan  Toy,  their  first  born  and  only  son,  from  him 
and  in  her  endeavor  to  steal  the  child  accidentally 
causes  his  death,  the  unfortunate  Wang  becomes  at 
first  an  image  of  agonized  paternal  love  and  then  an 
embodiment  of  implacable  vengeance.  The  play  is 
in  two  acts.  In  the  first,  Chinatown  is  shown  in  the 
bright  light  and  bustle  of  a  busy  noonday  and 
against  that  setting  is  displayed  the  sudden  bereave 
ment  and  afflicting  anguish  of  the  father.  In  the 
second,  an  alley-end  in  the  same  district  is  shown, 
with  a  glimpse  of  contiguous  gambling  hells  and 
opium  dens,  under  the  darkening  shadows  of  even 
ing.  There  the  inexorable  avenger  lounges,  lean 
ing  against  a  door  post, — apparently  an  idler  smok 
ing  his  evening  pipe  and  talking  with  a  Chinese 
girl,  who  leans  from  a  window;  in  fact,  vigilantly 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    449 

observant  of  Man  Low  Yek,  visible  within  a  shop, 
and  intent  on  slaying  him.  The  alley  grows  dark 
and  becomes  deserted.  The  neighboring  houses  are 
illumined.  The  chink  of  money  and  the  bickering 
chatter  of  unseen  gamblers  are  heard.  A  police 
officer  saunters  by  and  disappears.  Man  Low  Yek 
comes  forth  from  his  shop,  closing  it  after  him. 
Then,  suddenly,  as  he  passes,  Wang,  with  fearful 
celerity,  leaps  upon  him  wielding  a  hatchet,  strikes 
him  down,  drags  the  dead  body  into  convenient 
concealment,  and  is  back  again  at  his  former  loiter 
ing  place,  outwardly  placid,  before  the  fire  in  his 
pipe  has  had  time  to  become  extinguished. 

Belasco's  presentment  of  this  play  in  New  York 
was  a  gem  of  histrionic  illustration, — the  grouping 
and  movement  of  the  players  and  the  many  super 
numeraries,  the  employment  of  light  and  sound, 
every  expedient  alike  of  action  and  repose,  every 
detail  of  dress,  every  accessory  of  scenic  embellish 
ment,  all  were  so  adroitly  used  and  blended  as  to 
create  an  impression  of  perfect  verisimilitude,  and 
the  spectator  seemed  to  behold  two  veritable  seg 
ments  of  Chinatown  life.  The  acting,  especially  that 
of  Mr.  Powers  as  Chan  Wang  and  of  May  Buckley 
as  Loey  Tsing,  a  Chinese  girl  who  loves  him,  was 
exceptionally  earnest  and  effective.  This  was  the 
cast: 


i50    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Loey  Tsing Ma?  Buckley. 

Chow  Pow Ellen  Cummins. 

Chan  Lee Carrie  E-  Powers. 

Dr.  Pow  Len George  Osborne. 

Man  Low  Yek Charles  Bryant. 

Chan  Wang Francis  Powers. 

Hop  Kee J-  H-  Benrimo. 

Chum  Woe Harry  sPear- 

Kwakee John   Armstrong. 

Duck  Low George  Fullerton. 

Sum  Chow Harry  Levain. 

A  Chinese  Ragpicker Walter  Belasco. 

A  Provision  Dealer Fong  Get. 

Chan  Toy Venie  Wells. 

Way  Get Joseph  Silverstone. 

{Ysobel  Haskins. 
Florence  Haverleigh. 
L.  I.  Fuller. 
Hugo  Toland. 

"The  First  Born"  was  acted  at  the  Manhattan 
Theatre  in  association  with  "A  Night  Session,"  a 
farce  derived  from  the  French:  later,  other  farces 
were  performed  with  the  Chinatown  tragedy.  Its 
success  was  decisive  and  it  was  acted  in  New  York 
until  December  11; — at  the  Manhattan  from  Octo 
ber  5  to  November  6,  and  at  the  Garden  Theatre 
(in  association  with  an  English  version,  by  Benja 
min  F.  Roeder,  of  "L'Ete  de  St.  Martin,"  by  Henri 
Meilhac  and  Ludovic  Halevy)  from  'November 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    451 

29  onward.  Belasco  and  Frohman,  elated  by 
their  American  victory  with  this  play,  were  eager 
to  repeat  it  in  London.  A  second  company 
was,  accordingly,  at  once  engaged,  rehearsed,  and 
brought  forward  at  the  Manhattan, — the  original 
company  sailing  for  England  October  23,  and  emerg 
ing  at  the  Duke  of  York's  Theatre,  London, 
November  6.  The  enterprising  manager  William 
A.  Brady  had,  however,  hastened  to  the  British 
capital  before  them  with  another  and  similar  play, 
called  "The  Cat  and  the  Cherub,"  which  he  pre 
sented  at  the  Lyric  Theatre,  October  30,  thus  fore 
stalling  "The  First  Born"  and  causing  its  flat  fail 
ure  in  London.  It  was  withdrawn  after  one  week, 
Belasco  and  Frohman  losing  about  $20,000  on  their 
undertaking. 


BELASCO'S    SECOND     ENGLISH    VENTURE.— "THE    HEART 
OF    MARYLAND"     IN    LONDON. 

During  the  dramatic  season  of  1897-'98  Belasco 
and  Charles  Frohman  arranged  with  the  Messrs. 
Gatti,  managers  of  the  Adelphi  Theatre,  London, 
for  the  production  of  "The  Heart  of  Maryland" 
in  the  British  capital.  The  expenses  of  presenting 
that  play  were  large,  but  so,  also,  was  public  at 
tendance  on  its  performance,  the  average  gross 


452    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

receipts  amounting  to  about  $11,000  a  week:  that 
is,  in  three  seasons  the  public  had  paid  a  total  of 
about  one  million  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  to 
see  it.  Belasco's  share  of  the  profits  had  set  him 
well  forward  in  the  path  of  prosperity  and  he  was 
at  last  able  to  formulate  definite  plans  for  ventures 
which  finally  enabled  him  to  seize  a  conspicuous, 
independent,  and  influential  place  among  the  fore 
most  theatrical  managers  of  the  world.  His  expedi 
tion  into  England  with  Mrs.  Carter  and  "The  Heart 
of  Maryland"  was  one  of  the  first  of  those  ventures. 
The  utility  of  his  play  as  a  starring  vehicle  for 
that  actress  in  America  was  practically  exhausted, 
but  he  felt  strongly  assured  of  further  prosperity 
with  it  abroad.  Moreover,  he  knew  that  Mrs.  Carter 
would  be,  by  an  English  success,  exalted  in  the 
esteem  of  the  American  public — which  is  in  some 
respects  provincial  and  is  always  impressed  by 
foreign  approval.  And,  finally,  he  hoped  that, 
while  in  London,  he  would  be  able  to  obtain  a  suit 
able  new  play  for  her  use.  The  third  season  of 
"The  Heart  of  Maryland,"  accordingly,  was  closed 
at  Hartford,  Conn.,  March  26,  1898;  on  March 
30  Mrs.  Carter,  the  other  members  of  the 
theatrical  company  which  had  been  acting  in  it, 
and  Belasco  sailed  for  England  on  board  the  steam 
ship  St.  Paul,  and  on  April  8  that  play  was  per- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     453 

formed  at  the  Adelphi  Theatre,  London.  It  was, 
originally,  "booked"  for  a  season  of  one  month, 
but  it  was  received  with  such  abundant  popular 
favor  that  it  was  acted  there,  to  crowded  houses, 
for  twelve  weeks, — receiving  about  eighty  perform 
ances.  There  was  some  adversity  of  critical  com 
ment  in  the  press,  but  only  one  stricture  then  made 
disturbed  Belasco's  equanimity  and  has  rankled  in 
his  recollection, — namely,  the  unwarranted  and 
mean  intimation  that  he  had  copied  the  stirring 
"mechanical  effects"  (so  called)  used  in  course  of 
the  performance  of  his  play  from  William  Gillette's 
"Secret  Service,"  which  had  been  brought  out  in 
London,  May  15,  1897,  at  the  Adelphi.  Such  gra 
tuitous  disparagement  is  characteristic  of  a  patron 
izing  and  carping  spirit  frequently  encountered  in 
British  journalism.  Inquiry  as  to  the  facts  in 
this  case  at  once  displays  its  injustice.  Belasco's 
"The  Heart  of  Maryland"  was  begun  in  1890,  and 
the  "mechanical  effects"  employed  in  it  were  devised 
by  its  author  during  the  four  years  that  followed; 
they  were,  furthermore,  an  elaboration  and  improve 
ment  of  various  contrivances  first  used  by  him  in 
his  variant  of  "Not  Guilty," — San  Francisco, 
December  24,  1878, — and  some  of  them  were  used 
by  him  in  "The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me,"— January, 
1893.  Gillette's  "Secret  Service"  was  tried  at  the 


454    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Broad  Street  Theatre,  Philadelphia,  May  13,  1895, 
where  it  failed  and  was  at  once  withdrawn.  After 
having  been  entirely  rewritten  that  play  was  suc 
cessfully  produced  at  the  Garrick  Theatre,  New 
York,  October  5,  1896,— one  year  later  than  "The 
Heart  of  Maryland."  "Secret  Service,"  though 
a  useful  melodrama,  is  a  hodge-podge  fabri 
cation  (one  of  its  most  essential  situations  is  con 
veyed,  bodily,  from  "Don  Caesar  de  Bazan")  and 
is  in  every  way  inferior  to  "The  Heart  of  Mary 
land":  if  the  production  of  either  of  those  plays 
owed  anything  to  that  of  the  other,  it  is  manifest 
that  Belasco's  could  not  have  been  the  debtor. 

Belasco's  quest  for  a  new  drama  for  the  use  of 
Mrs.  Carter  seemed  destined  to  be  a  barren  one, 
when,  as  the  London  career  of  "The  Heart  of 
Maryland"  was  drawing  toward  its  close,  he  chanced 
to  read,  in  a  theatrical  newspaper,  an  outline  of  the 
plot  of  a  French  play  named  "Zaza,"  which  had 
been  produced,  May  12,  1898,  at  the  Vaudeville 
Theatre,  Paris,  and  which  he  thought  might  be 
adapted  to  the  use  of  his  star.  On  mentioning  the 
play  to  Charles  Frohman  and  inquiring  whether 
he  knew  anything  about  it  Frohman  informed 
him  that  he  did  not  believe  it  would  prosper  in 
America  and  that,  therefore,  he  had  permitted  an 
option  on  the  American  right  of  producing  it  to 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     455 

lapse.  Belasco,  nevertheless,  visited  Paris,  wit 
nessed  a  performance  of  "Zaza,"  as  acted  by  Mme. 
Gabrielle  Re  jane  and  her  associates  at  the  Vaude 
ville,  and  was  so  impressed  by  it  that  he  immedi 
ately  cabled  Frohman,  urging  him  to  purchase  the 
American  rights  of  production, — which  Frohman 
forthwith  did.  On  June  25  the  London  season 
of  "The  Heart  of  Maryland"  ended,  and  on  Sep 
tember  1,  on  the  steamship  Majestic,  Mrs.  Carter, 
the  "Maryland"  company,  and  Belasco  sailed  for 
home, — the  latter  having  entered  into  an  engage 
ment  with  Charles  Frohman  whereby  that  influential 
speculator  in  theatrical  wares  agreed  to  produce 
"Zaza"  in  partnership  with  him  and  to  "present 
Mrs.  Leslie  Carter,  by  arrangement  with  David 
Belasco."  Belasco  was  much  elated  at  having  made 
that  contract.  Writing  about  it,  he  says:  "Patience 
and  perseverance  had  won!  At  last  I  had  not  only 
a  star  and  a  play,  but  a  partner  with  money,  un 
limited  credit,  and  vast  influence.  As  soon  as  I 
returned  to  New  York  I  began  preparations  for 
the  next  season,  and  then  I  went  cheerfully  into 
exile  to  adapt  'Zaza.' ' 


456     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

«ZAZA,"    AND    THE    ETHICAL    QUESTION. 

Two  plays  have  been  produced  by  Belasco  the 
presentment  of  which,  in  my  judgment, — although 
both  of  them  were  received  with  extravagant  favor 
by  numerous  writers  in  the  press  and  were  acted 
profitably  and  with  much  manifest  public  approba 
tion  for  a  long  time, — should  be  recorded  as  a 
grievous  blot  on  the  fair  record  of  his  professional 
career.  One  of  those  plays  is  this  notorious  drama 
of  "Zaza,"  adapted  and  altered  by  Belasco  from 
the  French  original  by  MM.  Pierre  Berton  (1840- 
1912)  and  Charles  Simon  (1850-1910) ;  the  other 
is  the  vulgar  and  repulsive  drama  called  "The 
Easiest  Way,"  concocted  by  an  American  journalist, 
Mr.  Eugene  Walter,  containing  a  long-drawn  por 
trayal  expositive  of  the  immoral  character,  unchaste 
conduct,  and  necessarily  wretched  retributive  experi 
ence,  of  a  courtesan.  Both  of  those  plays  reflect  the 
gross  aspect  of  what  Carlyle  happily  designated 
Demirepdom, — a  domain  of  licentiousness  and  bes 
tiality  which  should  never  be  treated  in  Drama  or 
illustrated  on  the  Stage. 

Opinion  on  this  point  is,  I  am  aware,  sharply 
divided.  Shakespeare,  we  are  continually  reminded, 
speaking  for  himself  (most  inappropriately,  by  the 
way)  in  the  character  of  Hamlet,  and  referring  to 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     457 

"the  purpose  of  playing,"  says  that  its  "end  both 
at  the  first  and  now  was,  and  is,  to  hold,  as  'twere, 
the  mirror  up  to  nature;  to  show  virtue,  her  own 
feature,  scorn  her  own  image,  and  the  very  age  and 
body  of  the  time  his  form  and  pressure." 

What  does  that  mean?  Does  it  mean  that  every 
thing  existent  in  Nature  is  material  suitable  to  be 
presented  on  the  Stage?  Does  it  mean  that  there 
should  be  no  restriction  as  to  the  choice  of  subjects, 
from  "the  age  and  body  of  the  time,"  to  be  illus 
trated  in  public,  before  a  mixed  audience  of  both 
sexes  and  of  all  ages  and  conditions?  No  sound, 
convincing  exposition  of  that  view  of  the  subject 
has  ever  been  made,  and  I  cannot  accept  it. 
Shakespeare,  in  his  plays,  has  depicted  "people  of 
all  sorts,"  and  among  others  he  has  depicted  several 
sorts  of  depraved  women,  one  of  them,  Cressida, 
being  a  natural,  typical,  representative  harlot.  It 
is,  however,  to  be  observed  that  he  has  not  dilated 
on  her  career,  has  not  expatiated  on  her  licentious 
ness,  has  not  enumerated  her  intrigues,  has  not 
analyzed  her  libidinous  propensities,  has  not  tinged 
his  portrayal  of  her  misconduct  with  any  sophistical 
coloring,  has  not  entered  for  her  any  plea  in  extenu 
ation;  has  simply  drawn  her  as  a  type  of  rank  car 
nality  and  so  dismissed  her.  Such  persons  have 
always  existed,  they  exist  now,  and  they  always  will 


458    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

exist.  That  it  is  necessary,  right,  or  defensible  that 
they  should  be  exploited  in  the  Theatre  I  have  never 
been  able  to  perceive, — whether  they  be  depicted 
by  Shakespeare  or  by  anybody  else.  From  "Jane 
Shore"  and  "The  Stranger"  to  "Denise"  and 
"Camille,"  nothing  has  ever  come  of  the  long, 
dreary,  speciously  sophistical  exhibition  of  sexual 
vice  and  consequent  misery  but  corruption  of  the 
moral  sense,  loose,  flabby  thinking,  cant,  and  maud 
lin  sentimentality.  No  good  has  come  of  it  to  any 
body,  least  of  all  to  the  victims  of  their  evil  passions. 

Altruism  should  prevail  in  the  conduct  of  life,  and 
with  all  fine  natures  it  does  prevail.  The  instinctive 
desire,  while  not  universal  nor  perhaps  general,  is 
very  considerable  to  help  the  weak,  to  shield  the 
innocent,  to  liberate  the  oppressed,  to  comfort  the 
afflicted,  to  find  excuses  for  frailty,  to  take  a  chari 
table  view  of  human  infirmity;  but  while  lovely  in 
itself  and  beneficent  in  some  of  its  results,  it  is,  in 
vital  particulars,  ineffectual:  it  cannot  eliminate 
depravity  from  a  nature  that  is  innately  wicked,  and 
it  cannot  dispel  remorse, — or  even  mitigate  that 
agony, — from  a  mind  innately  conscientious. 

Belasco,  by  obtruding  harlots  on  the  stage, — as 
he  has  not  scrupled  to  do,  in  presenting  to  public 
observance  Zaza  and  Laura  Murdock, — follows 
many  precedents  and  impliedly  approves  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     459 

exploitation  of  such  persons, — unfortunate,  pitiable, 
deplorable,  sometimes  amiable  and  gentle,  more  fre 
quently  hard,  fierce,  treacherous,  and  wicked.  His 
published  writings  avow  his  views  on  this  subject, 
and  I  have  found  his  private  assurances  concurrent 
with  his  published  writings.  Those  views  do  more 
credit  to  the  kindness  of  his  disposition  than  to  the 
clarity  of  his  thought.  From  his  youth  onward  he 
has  been  deeply  interested  in  aberrant  women, 
studious  of  their  aberrancy,  solicitous  for  their  rescue 
and  reformation,  charitable  toward  them,  wishful 
to  befriend  them,  and  strenuous,  when  writing  about 
them,  to  place  them  in  the  best  possible  light. 
"Whenever  I  rehearse  a  situation  of  passion,  of 
crime,  of  wrongdoing"  (so  he  writes),  "I  remember 
the  heart.  I  make  an  excuse — seek  out  the  motive, 
to  put  the  actor  in  touch  with  the  culprit's  point  of 
view.  The  excuse  is  always  there/'  No  form  of 
reasoning  could  be  more  sophistical,  more  delusive, 
more  mischievous.  The  reason  for  sin,  for  crime,  for 
wrongdoing,  is  always  there:  but  a  broad  distinction 
exists  between  the  reason  and  the  excuse.  Some  per 
sons,  naturally  good,  nevertheless  do  wrong,  commit 
crime,  sin  against  themselves  and  against  both  moral 
law  and  social  order,  because  they  cannot  help  it, 
because  they  are  weak  and  cannot  resist  temptation. 
Other  persons  commit  crime  knowingly,  deliberately, 


460    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

intentionally,  because  they  wish  to  do  so,  because 
they  delight  in  doing  so,  and  find  their  greatest 
possible  gratification  in  acts  of  wickedness.  Selfish 
ness  and  greed  are,  in  a  vast  number  of  cases,  imper 
vious  to  anything  other  than  the  operation  of  exter 
nal  forces  painful  to  themselves:  there  are  persons 
who  possess  no  moral  sense  whatever.  The  notion 
that  there  is  a  substratum  of  goodness  in  every 
human  being  is  one  of  the  most  flagrant  delusions 
that  ever  entered  the  mind  of  sensible  persons 
acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  world  and  aware 
of  what  is  passing  around  them  every  hour.  "I 
remember  the  heart"  says  Belasco:  it  would  not 
be  amiss  to  remember  what  was  long  ago  said  of 
that  interesting  organ  by  one  of  the  wise  prophets 
of  his  nation:  "The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all 
things,  and  desperately  wicked."  It  is  in  the  highest 
degree  creditable  to  Belasco  as  a  man  that  he  pos 
sesses  a  tenderly  compassionate,  humane  spirit  and 
has  always  practically  acted  on  the  impulse  of  it; 
neither  wisdom  nor  justice  is  discernible  in  the 
"moral  teaching"  that  he  has  liberated  by  his  indis 
criminate  subservience  to  it  in  the  instances  I  have 
named. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    461 

PRODUCTION,    AND    CONTENTS,    OF    "ZAZA." 

"Zaza"  was  first  produced,  December  25,  1898,  at 
the  Lafayette  Opera  House  (now,  1917,  the  Belasco 
Theatre),  Washington,  D.  C.  The  first  present 
ment  of  it  in  New  York  occurred,  January  9,  1899, 
at  the  Garrick  Theatre,  where  it  was  acted  till  June 
17,  receiving  164  performances.  "Zaza"  is  not  so 
much  a  play  as  it  is  a  series  of  loosely  jointed, 
sequent  episodes.  The  story  is  simple  and  vulgar. 
Zaza  is  a  French  prostitute.  She  has  passed  from 
the  streets  to  the  stage  of  country  music  halls  and 
has  become  a  singer.  She  is  a  common,  shameless, 
termagant  wanton,  possessed,  however,  of  an  animal 
allurement  which  infatuates  a  man  of  respectable 
position  and  outwardly  decent  character.  His  name 
is  Dufrene.  By  him  she  is  removed  from  a  life  of 
miscellaneous  degradation  and, — "purified"  by 
"love"! — she  dwells  with  him,  in  contentment,  for 
six  months, — remarking,  as  she  pulls  on  her  stock 
ings,  "I  do  think  it's  the  most  beautiful  thing  in 
the  world  when  two  lovers  come  together."  At  the 
end  of  that  time  she  discovers  that  her  paramour  is 
married,  and  that  he  maintains  his  wife  and  their 
child  in  a  respectable  rural  home  and,  at  intervals, 
bestows  upon  them  the  boon  of  his  precious  com 
pany.  With  the  tigerish  resentment  often  charac- 


462     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

teristic  of  her  class,  she  immediately  repairs  to  that 
home,  intent  to  "revenge"  herself  upon  Dufrene's 
wife  by  revealing  the  husband's  infidelity.  Her 
amiable  purpose  is  diverted  by  an  encounter  with 
his  child,  whose  prattle  so  profoundly  affects  her 
super  sensitive  "better  feelings"  that  she  quits  the 
field,  returns  to  her  civic  bower,  which  has  been  pro 
vided  by  Dufrene,  there  provokes  a  violent  quarrel 
with  that  hypocritical  libertine,  so  enrages  him  that 
he  threatens  to  strike  her,  and  finally  elicits  from 
him  the  assurance  that  his  wife  is  much  more  precious 
to  him  than  his  harlot  is.  The  separation  of  this 
edifying  couple  ensues.  Stimulated  by  this  experi 
ence  of  "purification  by  love,"  Zaza  determines  to 
achieve  artistic  greatness  without  further  delay,  and 
this  she  incontinently  does,  becoming,  within  two 
years, — "through  much  misery,  much  grief,  much 
work,  and  a  little  luck,"  as  she  expresses  it, — a  great 
artist,  wealthy  and  (general  concomitant  of  wealth!) 
respected,  and,  most  delightful  of  all,  a  paragon  of 
virtue,  gently  dismissing  her  recalcitrant  paramour, 
Dufrene  (who,  unable  to  forget  the  rapturous  inter 
lude  of  his  amatory  association  with  her,  has  sought 
to  renew  it) ,  in  the  peaceful  seclusion  of  the  Champs 
Elysees! 

The  play  of  "Zaza,"  in  the  French  original,   is 
even  more  offensive  than  in  Belasco's  adaptation, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    463 

but  it  possesses  more  unity  as  a  dramatic  fabric 
and  more  authenticity  as  a  portrayal  of  a  revolting 
phase  of  life.  Belasco's  version  is  much  the  superior 
as  a  commercial  and  theatrically  useful  vehicle.  His 
purpose  in  adapting  the  play  for  the  English-speak 
ing  Stage  is  thus  stated  by  himself:  "I  wanted  my 
audience  to  find  some  excuse  for  Zazas  past  and  to 
have  less  pity  for  the  wife.  When  the  play  was 
produced  in  America  and  Zaza  sacrificed  her  own 
feelings  for  the  sake  of  a  child  the  audience  was 
so  entirely  in  her  favor  that  she  won  the  tears  of 
New  York  and,  later  on  [sic],  of  London."  "The 
tears"  of  New  York,  London,  or  any  other  residen 
tial  locality  are  not  difficult  to  "win"  when  an  experi 
enced  hand  at  the  theatrical  fount  pumps  hard 
enough  for  them.  Freed  of  flummery,  what  does 
this  play  signify?  A  woman  essentially  vile  in 
nature,  degraded  by  a  career  of  vice,  gross  in  her 
conduct,  vitiated  in  her  principles  and  feelings,  is 
sentimentally  affected  by  the  babble  of  a  child,  and 
her  holy  "sacrifice  of  her  own  feelings"  consists  in 
abstention  from  wrecking  the  happiness  of  an  inno 
cent  and  injured  woman  who  has  never  done  her 
any  harm.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  such  a  drab  as 
Zaza  would  not  have  denied  herself  that  gratifica 
tion  for  the  sake  of  a  whole  regiment  of  children,— 
but  truth  was  not  the  goal  desired:  that  object  was 


464    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

profitable  effect.  Such  dramas  as  "Zaza"  defile  the 
public  mind  and  degrade  the  Stage,  and  it  would  be 
propitious  for  the  community  if  they  could  be  played 
on  from  a  fire  hose  and  washed  into  the  sewer  where 
they  belong. 


MRS.    CARTER'S    IMPERSONATION    OF    ZAZA. 

Mrs.  Carter's  performance  of  the  patchouly- 
scented  heroine  of  this  tainted  trash  was  much 
admired  and  extravagantly  commended.  As  a  work 
of  dramatic  art  it  was  trivial:  as  a  violent  theatrical 
display  of  common  surface  traits, — a  demonstration, 
in  "Ercles'  vein,"  of  ability  to  tear  a  cat, — it  was 
highly  effective.  The  language  of  the  gutter  was 
spoken  in  the  tone  and  with  the  manner  of  the 
gutter.  The  method  of  the  execution  was  direct, 
broad,  swift, — and  coarse.  The  best  technical  merit 
of  it  was  clarity  of  utterance.  In  Zazas  scene  with 
the  child  Mrs.  Carter  was  mechanical  and  monoto 
nous.  It  was  the  utter,  reckless  abandon,  the  uncon 
trolled  physical  and  vocal  vehemence,  the  virago- 
like  intensity  of  her  abuse  of  her  lover,  which,  com 
municating  themselves  to  the  nerves  of  her  auditors 
and  overwhelming  them  by  violence,  gained  the 
actress  her  success  in  the  part.  If  to  "tear  a  passion 
to  tatters,  to  very  rags,"  to  take  up  the  carpet  tacks 


Photograph  by   Sarony.  Belasco's   Collection. 

MRS.  LESLIE  CARTER   AS  ZAZA 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     465 

and  demolish  the  furniture,  be  to  act  greatly,  then 
Mrs.  Carter's  Zaza  was  a  great  piece  of  acting;  not 
otherwise.  Her  popularity  was  unequivocal,  and  it 
constituted  a  triumph  for  Belasco  even  more  remark 
able  than  for  her. 

This  was  the  original  cast  of  "Zaza,"  at  the  Gar- 
rick  Theatre,  New  York,  January  9,  1899: 

Bernard  Dufrene Charles  A.  Stevenson. 

Due  de  Brissac Albert  Bruning. 

Cascart .  .Mark  Smith  (Jr.). 

Jacques  Rigault Hugo   Toland. 

Chamblay,  Jr Gilmore  Scott. 

Hector Lester  Gruner. 

Blac Harold  Howard. 

Brigard W.  B.  Murray. 

Mounet-Pombla Gerard  Anderson. 

Joly Herbert  Millward. 

Carvallo  Bros,  (acrobats) Leona  and  Master  Bimbi. 

Jdbowsld Walter  Stuart. 

Adolphe Lawrence  Reeves. 

Coachman Alfred  Hollingsworth. 

Criquet Edgar  Hart. 

Rosa  Bonne Marie  Bates. 

Madame  Dufrene Mabel  Howard. 

Dwonne Lizzie  DuRoy. 

Lizette Emma  Chase. 

Toto Helen  Thill. 

Florianne Anne    Sutherland. 

Alice  Morel Maude  Winter. 

Lolotte Marie   Thill. 

Juliette..  .Eleanor  Stuart. 


466    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Niniche Elizabeth  Belknap. 

Leonie Corah  Adams. 

Clairette Helma   Horneman. 

Adele Aurelia  A.  Granville. 

Flower  Girl Louisa  Burnham. 

Nathalie Helen   Tracy. 

Zaza Mrs.  Leslie  Carter. 

(Mem.  When  "Zaza"  was  revived,  in  1905,  a  minor  char 
acter  called  Lisvon  was  added:  it  was  played  by  Amelia  G. 
Granville.) 


DEATH  OF  BELASCO'S  MOTHER.— "CAN  THE   DEAD   COME 
BACK?"— A    STRANGE    EXPERIENCE. 

The  instant  and  immense  popular  success  of 
"Zaza"  was  embittered  for  Belasco  by  close  associa 
tion  with  a  loss  and  sorrow  that  time  has  not  light 
ened, — the  death  of  his  beloved  mother,  which  befell 
on  January  11,  1899,  at  No.  174  Clara  Street,  San 
Francisco.  During  rehearsals  of  his  play  and  its 
presentments  in  Washington  Belasco,  so  he  has 
told  me,  "had  felt  that  she  was  ill,"  but  had  no 
thought  that  her  condition  was  critical.  Writing 
about  her  death,  he  gives  the  following  interesting 
account  of  a  strange  experience: 

"Ever  since  my  boyhood  I  have  been  interested  in  the  sub 
ject  of  spiritualism.  For  many  years  I  have  asked  myself 
the  question:  'Can  the  dead  come  back?'  .  .  .  One  morn 
ing,  after  a  late  rehearsal,  I  reached  home  at  three  o'clock, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     467 

completely  fagged  out.  No  sooner  hacl  I  fallen  asleep  than 
I  seemed  to  waken,  and  there  stood  my  mother  beside  my 
bed.  'Davie,  Davie,  Davie,'  she  said  three  times,  smiled,  and 
bending  over  kissed  me  good-bye.  She  said  other  things — 
told  me  she  was  happy — not  to  grieve.  I  could  not  stir, 
but  kept  my  eyes  fixed  upon  her  as  she  moved  towards  the 
door  and  disappeared.  How  long  I  lay  staring  into  the 
darkness  I  do  not  know,  but  at  last  I  managed  to  collect 
myself,  put  on  my  dressing-gown,  and,  still  dazed,  went 
downstairs  to  a  little  sitting-room.  My  family  heard  me. 
'What  are  you  doing  downstairs?'  my  youngest  child, 
Augusta,  asked,  and  she  tried  to  coax  me  back  to  bed.  I 
went  to  my  room,  but  I  could  not  sleep.  When  I  told  my 
family  of  my  vision,  and  that  I  believed  my  mother  was  dead, 
they  suggested  that  I  was  overwrought  and  tired  and  had 
seen  my  mother  in  a  dream. 

"I  went  to  rehearsal  the  next  morning,  and  during  an 
interval  had  luncheon  at  Churchill's — then  a  small  coffee 
house — with  a  member  of  the  theatre  staff.  I  sat  there, 
much  troubled,  thinking  of  the  figure  of  my  mother  as  she 
appeared  in  the  dawn.  My  companion  noticed  my  silence, 
and,  when  I  told  him  of  my  experience,  tried  to  reassure  me. 
As  we  rose  to  go  he  handed  me  some  letters  and  telegrams 
he  had  found  in  the  box-office.  Among  the  telegrams  was 
one  telling  me  the  sad  news  of  my  mother's  death.  Later  I 
found  that  she  died  at  the  exact  time  she  appeared  at  my 
bedside.  At  the  very  moment  I  saw  her  she  was  passing  out 
of  the  world.  Several  years  after,  when  I  paid  a  visit  to  San 
Francisco,  my  brothers  and  sisters  told  me  my  mother  smiled 
and  murmured  my  name  three  times  before  she  died.  .  .  . 
I  do  not  know  that  the  dead  do  come  back.  I  do  know  that 
at  the  time  of  passing  the  spirit  sends  a  thought  through 
space,  and  this  thought  is  so  powerful  that  the  receiver  can 


468     THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

see  the  sender.     This  was  proved  by  my  dear  mother.     She 
came  to  me  no  more,  however." 


In  speaking  of  his  parents  Belasco  has  deeply 
impressed  me  by  the  fervor  and  sincerity  of  his 
filial  affections.  "My  mother,"  he  has  said,  "was 
the  best  loved  woman  in  Victoria  and  in  San  Fran 
cisco, — and  she  was  the  truest,  best  friend  I  ever 
had  or  shall  have.  She  was  called  'the  Good  Angel' 
of  the  poorer  quarters.  As  she  grew  older,  in  the 
latter  city,  when  going  about  in  streetcars,  con 
ductors  would,  when  she  wished  to  leave,  escort  her 
to  the  sidewalk,  or  would  bring  her  to  the  car,  if 
she  wished  to  board  it.  When  she  died  she  had  the 
greatest  funeral  a  private  person  ever  had  in  San 
Francisco.  My  brother  told  me  it  seemed  as  though 
every  vehicle  in  town  was  in  the  line.  She  was 
very  poetic,  romantic,  and  keenly  imaginative  and 
gentleness  itself.  Any  good  I  have  ever  done  I 
owe  to  her."— In  a  letter  to  a  friend  he  writes  thus 
about  his  mother: 


".  .  .1  cannot  tell  you  how  close  we  were — how  she 
seemed  always  to  understand  me  without  words  and  often 
[seemed]  to  be  near  me  when  I  was  in  trouble  and  needed 
help.  You  know,  I  believe  such  feelings  are  inspired  by 
something  real:  'the  realities  of  the  spirit  are  more  real 
than  anything  else.'  .  .  .  Very  often  we  exchanged  mes- 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    469 

sages  just  by  sending  flowers,  and  it  was  the  same  way  with 
my  little  'Gussie.'  .  .  .  Flowers  have  always  been  a  pas 
sion  with  me.  Ever  since  I  was  a  little  boy,  in  Vancouver, 
and  my  mother  used  to  come  and  find  me  dreaming  among 
them  on  the  hillside,  I  have  loved  them  all.  .  .  .  But  the 
violets  were  always  my  favorites,  as  they  were  hers.  She 
always  had  them  about  her,  from  girlhood,  and,  indeed,  my 
father  wooed  her  with  them.  There  was  a  bunch  of  them 
beside  her  in  the  little  cellar-room  where  I  was  born  (so 
she  used  to  tell  me),  and  when  they  brought  me  to  her  on 
a  pillow  she  took  some  in  her  hand  and  sprinkled  them  over 
me.  All  my  clothes,  when  I  was  a  baby,  had  a  violet 
embroidered  on  them,  somewhere.  The  last  gift  I  ever 
received  from  my  mother  was  a  black  silk  scarf,  with  vio 
lets  embroidered  on  it, — and  long,  long  hours  it  must  have 
taken  her  to  do  it,  for  she  could  hardly  hold  a  needle.  Once, 
when  I  was  a  boy,  I  took  $20  from  a  secret  little  hoard  of 
hers,  to  pay  for  an  operation  on  my  throat  which  I  didn't 
want  her  to  know  about.  Of  course  she  missed  it  but  she 
never  said  a  word,  and  when  I  had  saved  up  the  money  I 
just  put  it  in  a  bunch  of  violets  and  left  it  for  her.  And 
when  at  last  she  went  away  and  I  could  not  be  there  I  sent 
violets  to  cover  her  grave  and  say  my  'Good-bye.' " 


BLANCHE  BATES  AND  "NAUGHTY  ANTHONY." 

Much  the  most  interesting  person  and  much  the 
ablest  performer  who  has  appeared  under  the  man 
agement  of  Belasco  is  Blanche  Bates.  At  the 
zenith  of  her  career  she  exhibited  a  combination 
of  brilliant  beauty,  inspiriting  animation  and  impetu- 


470    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

ous  vigor  quite  extraordinary  and  irresistibly  win 
ning.  Her  lovely  dark  eyes  sparkled  with  glee. 
Her  handsome  countenance  radiated  gladness.  She 
seemed  incarnate  joy.  Her  voice  was  clear,  liquid, 
sweet;  her  enunciation  distinct,  her  bearing  dis 
tinguished,  her  action  free  and  graceful.  I  have 
seldom  seen  an  actress  whose  mere  presence  con 
veyed  such  a  delightful  sense  of  abounding  vitality 
and  happiness.  In  the  last  ten  years  no  actress  in 
our  country  has  equalled  her  in  brilliancy  and  power. 
She  might  have  grasped  the  supremacy  of  the 
American  Stage,  alike  in  Comedy  and  Tragedy, 
personating  such  representative  parts  as  Shake 
speare's  Beatrice  and  Cleopatra  and  taking  by  right 
the  place  once  occupied  by  Ada  Rehan  and  after 
ward  by  Julia  Marlowe.  While  under  Belasco's 
management  she  did  give  three  performances  which 
deservedly  are  remembered  among  the  best  of  her 
time, — namely,  Cigarette,  in  "Under  Two  Flags"; 
Yo-San,  in  "The  Darling  of  the  Gods,"  and  The 
Girl,  in  "The  Girl  of  the  Golden  West."  But, 
although  incontestably  she  possesses  intellectual 
character,  a  strain  of  capricious  levity  is  also  among 
her  attributes;  she  has  weakly  acquiesced  to  the 
dictates  of  vacuous  social  taste  and  sordid  com 
mercial  spirit,  paltered  with  her  great  talents, 
thrown  away  high  ambition  and  golden  opportunity, 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    471 

and  so  came  at  last  to  mere  failure  and  obscurity. 
Her  nature  and  her  artistic  style  require  for  their 
full  and  free  arousal  and  exercise  parts  of  romantic, 
passionate,  picturesque  character,  admitting  of  large, 
bold,  sparkling  treatment.  She  acted  under  Belas- 
co's  direction  for  about  twelve  years:  since  leaving 
it,  in  1912,  she  has  done  nothing  in  the  Theatre  of 
importance.  "The  modern,  '  drawing-room  drama' 
in  which  she  aspired  to  play," — so  Belasco  once 
remarked  to  me, — "is  not,  to  my  mind,  suited  to  her, 
and  so  we  parted." 

Blanche  Bates  is  a  native  of  Portland,  Oregon, 
born  August  25,  1872;  her  father  was  manager  of 
the  Oro  Fino  Theatre,  Portland,  at  the  time  of  her 
birth.  Her  youth  was  passed  in  San  Francisco, 
where  she  was  well  educated.  She  went  on  the 
stage  in  1894,  appearing  at  Stockwell's  Theatre 
(later  called  the  Columbia),  in  that  city,  in  a  play 
called  "This  Picture  and  That."  Her  novitiate  was 
served  chiefly  under  the  management  of  T.  Daniel 
Frawley.  For  several  years  she  acted  in  cities  in 
the  Far  West,  playing  all  sorts  of  parts.  At  one 
time,  in  California,  she  was  professionally  associated 
with  that  fine  comedian  Frank  Worthing  (Francis 
George  Pentland,  1866-1910),  who  materially 
helped  to  develop  and  train  her  histrionic  talents. 
Belasco  first  became  acquainted  with  her  while  she 


472    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

was  yet  a  child,  at  the  time  of  his  professional 
alliance  with  her  mother,  Mrs.  F.  M.  Bates.  In 
1896,  during  Mrs.  Carter's  first  season  in  "The 
Heart  of  Maryland,"  Blanche  visited  New  York, 
witnessed  that  performance,  and  applied  to  Belasco 
for  employment.  At  the  moment  it  was  not  pos 
sible  for  him  to  engage  her,  but  he  was  neither  for 
getful  of  an  old  promise  of  his  made  to  Mrs.  Bates 
that  he  would  assist  her  daughter,  if  ever  he  should 
be  able  to  do  so,  nor  unmindful  of  the  beauty, 
talent,  and  charming  personality  of  the  applicant, 
and  he  assured  her  that  she  "should  have  a  chance" 
at  the  first  opportunity.  That  opportunity  did  not 
present  itself  for  nearly  three  years.  Meanwhile, 
Miss  Bates  returned  to  California  and  acted  there, 
for  about  two  years  more,  with  the  Frawley  com 
pany.  In  the  Spring  of  1898  she  was  engaged  by 
Augustin  Daly  and  for  a  short  time  she  acted  under 
his  management.  On  February  9,  1899,  she  made 
a  single  brilliantly  successful  appearance,  at  Daly's 
Theatre,  as  the  Countess  Mirtza,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  first  presentment  in  this  country  of  the  popular 
melodrama  of  "The  Great  Ruby."  She  disagreed, 
however,  with  the  autocratic  Daly  and  immediately 
retired  from  his  company.  On  March  13,  1899, 
acting  at  the  Broadway  Theatre,  New  York,  in 
association  with  Belasco's  old  friend  and  comrade 


Photograph   by   Sarony.  Belasco's    Collection. 

BELASCO,  ABOUT  1899-1900 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    473 

James  O'Neill,  she  distinguished  herself  as  Milady, 
in  "The  Three  Guardsmen,"  and  on  October  19,  that 
year,  at  the  Herald  Square  Theatre,  she  gave  a 
notably  fine  performance, — splendidly  effective  in 
the  principal  scene, — of  Hannah  Jacobs,  in  Israel 
Zangwill's  stage  synopsis  of  his  novel  of  "The  Chil 
dren  of  the  Ghetto."  A  few  weeks  later  Belasco 
informed  Miss  Bates  that  if  she  were  willing  to 
begin  in  a  farce  which  he  did  not  much  esteem  he 
was  ready  to  undertake  her  management  prepara 
tory  to  "giving  her  her  chance."  "The  Children 
of  the  Ghetto"  had  proved  a  failure,  and  the 
actress  joyfully  accepted  the  manager's  proposal. 

Blanche  Bates  first  acted  under  Belasco' s  man 
agement,  December  25,  1899,  at  the  Columbia 
Theatre,  Washington,  D.  C.,  appearing  as  Cora,  the 
principal  person  in  Belasco's  "Naughty  Anthony": 
on  January  8,  1900,  she  appeared  in  it  at  the 
Herald  Square  Theatre,  New  York.  The  title  of 
that  farce  is  not  altogether  felicitous,  because  pos 
sibly  suggestive  of  impropriety,  but  there  is  noth 
ing  mischievous  in  the  fabric  itself.  The  piece  is 
incorporative  of  one  scene,  varied  and  rewritten, 
from  an  unremembered  farce  of  other  days,  and,  with 
its  freightage  of  old  but  always  effective  stage 
subterfuges  and  comic  "business,"  it  reminded 
experienced  observers  of  such  plays,  far  and  for- 


474    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

got  now,  as  "Flies  in  the  Web,"  "My  Neighbor's 
Wife,"    "Playing    with    Fire,"    "To    Oblige    Ben 
son,"  etc.     In  it  Belasco  made  use  of  one  of  the 
oldest  theatrical  expedients  for  creating  comic  con 
fusion   and   mirthful    effect, — the    expedient    of    a 
mistaken  identity.    The  chief  male  in  it  is  Anthony 
Depew,    a    moral    professor    of    the    Chautauqua 
brotherhood,  who  becomes  enamoured  of  a  coquet 
tish  girl,  in  the  hosiery  business,  and  whose  exploits 
in  osculation  lead  him  into  a  troublesome  dilemma, 
from  which  he  endeavors  to  escape  by  pretending  to 
be  somebody  else.    This  kind  of  perplexity  has  been 
common   on  the   stage    since   the    distant   days   of 
"The    Three    Singles;    or,    Two    and   the   Deuce." 
Such  themes  do  not  require  much  comment.     The 
chief  fact  to  be  recorded  in  this  case  is  the  uncom 
mon  felicity  of  the  cast  and  the  excellence  of  the 
stage  direction.    But  such  an  actor  as  Frank  Worth 
ing  (who  was  essentially  a  light  comedian,  and,  as 
such,  the  most  conspicuous  local  performer  of  the 
day,  in  his  particular  line)   and  such  an  actress  as 
Miss  Bates  were  practically  wasted  in  so  ephemeral 
a  trifle.     This   was   the   cast   in   full: 

Cowley .Albert  Bruning. 

Adam  Budd William  J.  LeMoyne. 

Zachary  Chillinton William  Elton. 

Jack  Cheviot Charles  Wyngate. 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     475 

Mr.  Heusted Claude  Gillingwater. 

Mr.  Brigham E.  P.  Wilkes. 

Miss  Rinkett Fanny  Young. 

Cowley Albert  Bruning. 

Knox Samuel  Edwards. 

Ed Brandon  Tynan. 

Mrs.  Zachary  Chillingham Maud  Harrison. 

Rosy Mary    Barker. 

Winnie Olive  Redpath. 

Cora Blanche  Bates. 

Belasco's  serious  purpose,  in  this  play,  under 
lying  the  quest  of  laughter,  was  to  satirize  moral 
humbug,  and  that  good  purpose  he  accomplished. 
Anthony  Depew  is  an  amiable  impostor,  established 
at  Chautauqua,  New  York,  to  give  lessons  in  moral 
conduct  to  persons  who  deem  themselves  tempted 
to  go  astray.  He  goes  astray  himself,  as  far  as 
compromising  osculation,  and  he  causes  all  manner 
of  disturbance,  in  several  households,  by  fixing  the 
guilt  of  a  kiss  upon  an  innocent  booby,  who  is  his 
landlord.  Worthing  embodied  that  humbug  in  an 
admirable  manner.  His  plan  was  definite,  his  exe 
cution  firm  and  true,  his  satire  cumulative;  and  from 
first  to  last  he  never  swerved  from  that  demeanor 
of  perfect  gravity  which  makes  absurd  proceedings 
irresistibly  amusing.  Miss  Bates,  even  more  than 
usually  beautiful  as  Cora,  made  the  tempter  of 
*Anihony  a  compound  of  demure  simplicity  and  arch, 


476    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

piquant  glee,  and,  in  her  complete  frustration  of  the 
Professor's  moral  heroics,  she  was  a  delightful 
incarnation  of  honest,  healthful,  triumphant  woman 
nature.  A  colloquy  of  these  two  players,  as  pre 
ceptor  and  pupil,  has  seldom  been  surpassed  for 
pure  fun.  Specification  of  the  fantastic  situations 
in  which  the  Professor  involves  himself  and  his  land 
lord,  Adam  Budd, — abundantly  comical  in  the  seem 
ingly  unpremeditated  humor,  the  soft,  silky  manner, 
and  the  grotesque  personality  assumed  by  Le 
Moyne, — would  be  a  tedious  business.  Good  acting, 
however,  did  not  suffice  to  sustain  the  play  in  public 
favor.  Writing  about  this  venture  Belasco  says: 

"At  the  time  I  wrote  'Naughty  Anthony'  the  country  was 
farce  mad, — but  the  public  will  not  accept  me  as  a  farce 
writer,  and  it  was  a  failure.  I  believed,  at  the  time,  that 
had  somebody  else  produced  my  play  it  might  have  succeeded, 
and  this  actually  proved  to  be  the  case;  for  when  I  sold 
the  piece  and  it  was  taken  on  the  road,  with  my  name  omitted 
from  the  programme,  it  made  money,  although  it  had  cost 
me  a  pretty  penny.  I  soon  saw  that  'Naughty  Anthony' 
must  be  withdrawn  or  something  added  to  the  bill  in  order 
to  keep  it  going." 


"MADAME    BUTTERFLY." 

Some     little    while     before     the     production     of 
'Naughty  Anthony"  Belasco  had  received  from  a 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    477 

stranger  a  letter  in  which  he  was  urged  to  read  a 
story,  called  "Madame  Butterfly,"  by  John  Luther 
Long,  with  a  view  to  making  it  into  a  play.  When 
anxiously  casting  about  for  some  means  of  provid 
ing  required  reinforcement  for  his  farce  he  chanced 
to  recollect  that  suggestion,  procured  a  copy  of 
Long's  book  containing  his  tragic  tale,  read  it  and 
was  so  much  impressed  by  the  possibilities  which 
he  perceived  of  basing  on  it  a  striking  theatrical 
novelty  that  he  entered  into  communication  with 
Long  and  arranged  with  him  for  the  use  of  his 
story.  This  proved,  in  several  ways,  a  most  fortu 
nate  occurrence:  it  led  to  a  valued  and  lasting 
friendship  and,  ultimately,  to  the  writing  of  two 
other  memorable  dramas, — "The  Darling  of  the 
Gods"  and  "Adrea," — as  well  as  to  the  composition 
of  a  beautiful  and  extraordinarily  popular  opera, 
and  it  resulted,  directly,  in  the  making  and  produc 
tion,  by  Belasco,  of  one  of  the  most  effective  short 
plays  of  the  last  twenty-five  years, — the  success  of 
which  did  much  to  sustain  him  under  the  disappoint 
ment  of  failure  and  the  burden  of  heavy  loss. 

Belasco's  tragedy  of  "Madame  Butterfly"  is  com 
prised  in  one  act,  of  two  scenes,  which,  connected 
by  a  pictorial  intercalation,  are  presented  without  a 
break,  and  it  implicates  eight  persons,  besides  its 
heroine,  all  of  whom  are  merely  incidental  to  depic- 


478    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

tion  of  her  tragic  fate.  The  substance  of  its  story 
is  contained  in  Goldsmith's  familiar  lines  about  the 
sad  consequences  of  lovely  woman's  genuflexion  to 
folly.  A  man  commits  the  worst  and  meanest  of 
all  acts,  the  wronging  of  an  innocent  girl,  and  then 
deserts  her.  The  case  has  often  been  stated — 
but  it  is  not  less  pathetic  because  it  is  familiar.  In 
this  instance  the  girl  is  a  Japanese,  and  in  Japan, 
and  thus  the  image  of  her  joy,  sorrow,  desolation, 
and  death  are  investable  with  opulent  color  and 
quaint  accessories.  Her  name  is  Cho-Cho-San, 
and,  by  her  lover,  she  is  called  "Madame  Butterfly/' 
Her  family  is  one  of  good  position,  but  her  father, 
a  soldier  of  the  emperor,  having  been  defeated  in 
battle,  has  killed  himself,  and  her  relatives,  being 
poor,  have  induced  Cho-Cho-San,  in  order  that  she 
may  be  able  to  provide  maintenance  for  them,  to 
enter  into  the  relation  of  housekeeping  prostitute 
with  an  officer  of  the  United  States  Navy,  Lieu 
tenant  B.  F.  Pinkerton  by  name,  who  is  stationed 
for  a  few  months  at  Higashi,  Japan,  and  who  feels 
himself  to  be  in  need  of  female  companionship  and 
that  "comfort  other  than  pecuniary''  specified  by 
Patrick  Henry.  According  to  the  enlightened  and 
advanced  customs  of  Japan  (which  various  English- 
speaking  exponents  of  progress  and  free-everything, 
including  free-"love,"  are  laboring  to  establish  in 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    479 

our  benighted  country)  this  relationship  is  not  de 
grading  and  despicable  but  respectable  and,  in  cir 
cumstances  which  are  of  frequent  occurrence,  to 
be  desired.  As  Butterfly  expresses  it,  though  the 
naval  officer  is  described  by  the  Japanese  as  "a 
barbarian  and  a  beast,"  "Aevery  one  say:  *yaes> 
take  him — take  him  beas' — he's  got  moaneys,'  so  I 
say  for  jus'  liddle  while,  perhaps  I  can  stan'." 
Pinkerton,  however,  proves  to  be  a  delightful  com 
panion  who  wins  the  love  of  the  Japanese  girl  and, 
with  the  crass  cruelty  common  among  viciously  self- 
indulgent  men,  he  assures  that  forlorn  waif  that 
her  marriage  to  him  is  not  merely  a  temporary 
arrangement  of  convenience,  terminable,  according 
to  Japanese  law,  by  the  mere  act  of  desertion,  but 
is  a  binding,  permanent  one,  according  to  Ameri 
can  custom  and  law  and  that  she  is,  in  fact,  Mrs. 
B.  F.  Pinkerton.  Having  led  her  to  believe  this, 
the  amiable  Pinkerton  presently  departs  upon  his 
ship,  after  making  Butterfly  a  present  of  money, 
informing  her  that  he  has  "had  a  very  nice  time" 
and  assuring  her  that  he  will  come  back  "when 
the  robins  nest  again."  The  girl,  confidently  await 
ing  the  return  of  her  lover,  whom  she  declares 
and  believes  to  be  her  lawful  husband,  after  a  little 
time  becomes  a  mother  by  him.  Two  years  pass — 
during  which  she  refuses  many  suitors — and  the 


480    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

money  given  her  by  Pinkerton  has  been  all  but  ex 
hausted:  Butterfly  is  confronted  by  the  alternative 
of  beggary  or  starvation,  yet  she  contemptuously 
rejects  all  proffers  of  rich  alliances,  serenely  trust 
ing  in  the  faith  of  Pinkerton.  Then,  at  last,  he 
comes  back,  and  she  is  apprised  that  though  for  two 
weeks  after  leaving  her  he  was  "dotty  in  love  with 
her"  he  recovered  from  his  sublime  passion  and  that 
he  has  married  another  woman  (who  magnanimously 
offers  to  take  away  her  child  and  rear  it!) — where 
upon  Madame  Butterfly  kills  herself. 

The  play  is  a  situation,  and,  though  some  of  its 
detail  is  trivial,  it  reveals  elemental  extremes  and 
contrasts  of  much  human  experience;  in  its  essen 
tial  passages  it  possesses  the  cardinal  merits  of  sim 
plicity  and  directness,  and  in  representation  its  effect 
is  tragic  and  afflictingly  pathetic.  One  feature  of 
its  performance,  devised  by  Belasco,  was,  in  respect 
to  execution,  unique, — namely,  the  intercalation 
whereby  the  two  scenes  of  the  tragedy  are  connected. 
When,  at  evening,  the  forlorn  Butterfly, — after  two 
years  "jus'  waitin' — sometimes  cry  in' — sometimes 
watchin' — but  always  waitin'!" — sees  the  warship 
to  which  Pinkerton  is  attached  entering  the  harbor 
of  Higashi  she  believes  that  her  "husband"  will 
immediately  repair  to  their  abode  and  she  becomes 
almost  delirious  with  joy.  She  prepares  for  his 


a  « 

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W    ^ 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     481 

reception,  attiring  herself  and  their  little  child  in  fine 
array  and  decking  the  house  with  flowers  and  lighted 
lanterns.     Then,  with  the  child  and  a  servant  maid, 
she  takes  station  at   a  window,  to  give  him  wel 
come — and  there  she  waits  and  watches  through  the 
night,  until  the  morning  breaks.    The  lapse  of  time 
was,  in  the  performance,  skilfully  and  impressively 
denoted, — the    shades    of    evening    darkening    into 
night;   stars  becoming  visible,   then  brilliant,   then 
fading  from  view;  the  lighted  lanterns  one  by  one 
flickering   out;   the   gray   light   of   dawn   revealing 
the  servant  and  the  child  prone  upon  the  floor  sunk 
in  slumber,  with  the  deserted  mother  standing  over 
them,  pale  and  wan,  still  gazing  fixedly  down  the 
vacant  road,  while  the  rosy  glow  of  sunrise  grew 
into  the  full  light  of  day  and  the  sweet  sound  of  the 
waking  songs  of  birds  floated  in  from  a  flowering 
grove  of  cherry  trees.    In  the  representation  this 
scene,  during  which  no  word  was  spoken  and  no 
motion     made,     occupied    fourteen     minutes — and 
surely  no  tribute  to  Belasco's  resource  and  skill  in 
stage  management   and   stage   mechanics   could   be 
more  significant  than  the  fact  that  during  all  that 
time  never  did  the  interest  of  his  audiences  waver 
nor  their  attention  flag. 

At  the  end,  when  Butterfly  knows  her  lover  faith 
less  and  her  life  ruined  and  desolate,  she  takes  her 


482    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

father's  sword, — on  which  is  graven  his  dying  moni 
tion,  "To  die  with  honor,  when  we  can  no  longer 
live  with  honor," — and  with  it  deals  herself  a  mortal 
stroke.  This  desperate  deed  is  done  out  of  the  audi 
ence's  sight  and  as,  with  ghastly  face  and  a  scarf 
bound  round  her  throat  to  hide  the  wound,  she  stag 
gers  forward  to  clasp  her  child  to  her  breast,  Pinker- 
ton  enters  the  room  and  Butterfly,  holding  the  child 
in  her  arms,  sinks  at  his  feet,  turning  on  him  a  look 
of  anguish  as  she  murmurs  "Too  bad — those  robin' 
— never  nes' — again!" — and  so  dies. 

"Madame  Butterfly"  was  first  presented  at  the 
Herald  Square  Theatre,  March  5,  1900.    The  scenic 
habiliment  in  which  Belasco   attired   that  tragedy 
was  one  of  great  beauty  and  perfect  taste  and  it 
had  never  been  equalled  by  anything  rightly  com 
parable,  excepting  Augustin  Daly's  exquisite  setting 
of  "Heart  of  Ruby"   (a  play  on  a  Japanese  theme 
adapted  by  Justin  Huntly  McCarthy  from  Mme. 
Judith  Gautier's  "La  Marchande  de  Sourires"),  pro 
duced  at  Daly's  Theatre,  January  15,  1895, — which 
was  a  complete  failure:  it  cost  Daly  about  $25,000 
and   it  was  withdrawn  after   seven   performances. 
Belasco's  Japanese  venture,  happily,  was  fortunate 
from  the  first,  creating  a  profound  impression  and 
achieving  instant  success.    A  notably  effective  scenic 
innovation  was  the  precedent  use  of  "picture  drops," 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    483 

delicately  painted  and  very  lovely  pictures  showing 
various  aspects  of  Japan, — a  rice  field,  a  flower  gar 
den,  a  distant  prospect  of  a  snow-capped  volcano 
in  the  light  of  the  setting  sun,  and  other  views, — 
by  way  of  creating  a  Japanese  atmosphere  before 
the  scene  of  the  drama  was  disclosed.  Blanche 
Bates  embodied  the  hapless  Butterfly  and  animated 
the  character  with  a  winning  show  of  woman's  fidel 
ity,  with  a  lovely  artlessness  of  manner  and  speech, 
and  with  occasional  flashes  of  that  vivid  emotional 
fire  which  was  her  supreme  attribute.  Her  persona 
tion  at  first  caused  laughter  and  at  last  touched 
the  source  of  tears, — but  the  predominant  figure  in 
the  history  of  this  play,  both  at  the  first  and  now, 
was  and  is  that  of  Belasco:  more,  perhaps,  in 
respect  to  "Madame  Butterfly"  than  of  any  other 
of  his  productions  it  may  properly  be  said  that  his 
personality  seemed  to  have  permeated  every  detail 
of  this  performance  and  its  environment.  This  was 
the  original  cast: 

Cho-Cho-San  (Madame  Butterfly) Blanche  Bates. 

Suzuki,  her  servant Marie   Bates. 

Mr.  Sharpless,  American  Consul Claude  Gillingwater. 

Lieutenant  B.  F.  Pinkerton Frank  Worthing. 

Yamadori Albert   Bruning. 

Nakodo .E.  P.  Wilks. 

Kate,  Mrs.  Pinkerton Katherine  Black. 


484    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BEL  AS  CO 

Trouble,  the  child Kittie . 

Attendant William   Lamp. 

Attendant Westropp   Saunders. 


"ZAZA"    ABROAD. 

The  Belasco  season  at  the  Herald  Square  Theatre 
was  ended  on  March  24,  and  on  April  5,  on  board 
the  steamship  St.  Paul,  he  sailed  for  England,  with 
Mrs.  Leslie  Carter  and  a  numerous  theatrical  com 
pany,  to  present  that  actress,  in  partnership  with 
Charles  Frohman,  in  "Zaza,"  at  the  Garrick  Thea 
tre,  London.  That  project  had  been  planned  by 
the  two  managers  many  months  before  and  it  was 
triumphantly  fulfilled  on  April  16, — Belasco's  ver 
sion  of  the  French  play  and  Mrs.  Carter's  perform 
ance  in  it  being  received  in  the  British  capital  with 
rapturous  applause  and  remaining  current  there 
until  July  28.  The  principal  persons  who  seem  to 
have  entertained  seriously  dissenting  and  dissatisfied 
views  as  to  Belasco's  treatment  of  the  subject  were 
the  authors  of  the  French  original,  MM.  Berton 
and  Simon,  whose  conceit  was  great  and  whose 
indignation  was  lively  because  their  noxious  drama 
had  not  been  deemed  sacrosanct  but  had  been  freely 
altered. 


Photograph    by    Dupont. 


Belasco's    Collection. 


GIACOMO  PUCCINI 


INSCRIPTIOX: 

''Vi/    mio    collaboratore    e    amico    Siy.    David    Belasco:    r/reato    ricordo 

GIACOMO   PUCCIXT" 


THE  LIFE  OE  DAVID  BELASCO     485 


VIEWS    OF    THE    FRENCH    DRAMATISTS. 

Belasco,  in  his  "Story,"  gives  some  account  of  the 
attitude  of  the  French  authors  toward  his  adapta 
tion  of  their  play,  to  which,  undoubtedly,  they  were 
indebted  for  profit  and  reputation  they  would  not 
otherwise  have  obtained: 

"During  the  summer  of  1900  we  took  'Zaza'  to  London. 
Before  opening  there  I  went  to  Paris  to  visit  the  authors, 
Berton  and  Simon.  They  had  been  paid  large  sums  for 
the  American  rights  of  'Zaza,'  and  as  the  success  of  'Zaza' 
in  America  led  to  its  revival  in  Paris  their  profits  were 
enormous.  Naturally,  I  was  a  welcome  guest  and  my  week 
end  visit  was  very  agreeable,  as  it  was  made  to  the  accom 
paniment  of  a  song  of  praise — of  superlative  gratitude. 
What  I  had  accomplished  was  remarkable !  Superb  I  There 
was  no  other  man,  etc.,  etc.  In  the  meanwhile  I  was  won 
dering  what  they  would  say  when  they  saw  the  manuscript 
of  'Zaza.'  They  came  to  London  for  the  first  night,  pre 
ceded  by  a  huge  hamper  of  flowers  for  Mrs.  Carter.  The 
opening  was  a  brilliant  function.  The  late  King  Edward, 
then  Prince  of  Wales,  was  present;  also  King  George,  then 
Duke  of  York.  I  remember  the  military  bearing  of  Clement 
Scott  in  his  scarlet-lined  coat,  and  the  rough  and  ready 
appearance  of  Bernard  Shaw,  in  his  soft  shirt  and  crush 
hat.  What  the  latter  thought  of  Mrs.  Carter  found  its 
caustic  way  into  the  columns  of  'The  Saturday  Review'; 
what  the  audience  thought  was  told  by  the  growing  enthu 
siasm  as  the  play  progressed;  what  Berton  and  Simon 
thought  was  shown  by  a  certain  coolness  in  their  attitude 


486    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

toward  me.  Their  enthusiasm  die'd  a  natural  death  after 
the  Second  Act,  and  the  more  demonstrative  the  audience 
the  less  pleased  were  they.  At  the  close  of  the  Third  Act 
they  left  the  house,  telling  me  in  heated  terms  that  I  had 
ruined  their  climax  and  it  was  not  their  play  at  all.  Curi 
ously  enough,  they  did  not  see  the  humor  of  the  situation. 
My  version  made  their  fortune  because  it  made  the  woman 
possible  to  an  English-speaking  audience.  The  authors  were 
in  the  odd  position  of  quarreling  with  their  bread  and  butter 
(an  unusual  situation  for  playwrights).  They  grew  angrier 
and  angrier  as  the  play  gained  favor  with  the  public,  and 
their  royalties  were  increased  week  after  week.  Those  were 
strenuous  days.  However,  they  calmed  down,  and  in  the 
course  of  time  Monsieur  Berton  asked  me  to  forget  the 
letter  of  denunciation  he  wrote  to  me  from  Paris." 


"WITH     SPEED     FOR     ENGLAND."— ANOTHER     SUCCESS 
IN    LONDON. 

The  success  which  Belasco  had  gained  with 
"Madame  Butterfly"  in  New  York  was  so  great 
that,  had  he  chosen  to  do  so,  he  could  have  suc 
cessfully  prolonged  his  season  there,  at  the  Herald 
Square  Theatre,  throughout  the  summer  of  1900. 
But  his  plans  for  producing  "Zaza"  in  London  were 
complete  and  he  was  bound  "with  speed  for  Eng 
land";  he  determined,  therefore,  to  carry  his  little 
Japanese  tragedy  with  him,  having  it  in  mind  to 
show  theatre-goers  in  the  British  capital,  simul 
taneously,  two  vividly  contrasted  specimens  of  his 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     487 

theatrical  resource  and  power.  At  first,  he  was  dis 
posed  to  transport  the  company,  headed  by  Blanche 
Bates,  as  well  as  the  production, — that  is,  the  scen 
ery,  dresses,  "properties"  and  effects.  But  when  he 
sought  to  do  this  it  proved  to  be  impracticable:  the 
only  arrangement  that  he  found  it  feasible  to  make 
was  one  with  his  partner  in  the  "Zaza"  venture, 
Charles  Frohman,  who,  at  the  time,  was  successfully 
presenting,  at  the  Duke  of  York's  Theatre,  Lon 
don,  Jerome  K.  Jerome's  comedy  of  "Miss  Hobbs." 
With  Frohman,  accordingly,  Belasco  arranged  to 
bring  forward  "Madame  Butterfly"  as  an  "after 
piece"  to  "Miss  Hobbs," — and  as  it  was  manifestly 
injudicious  unnecessarily  to  maintain  two  stars  at  one 
and  the  same  theatre,  Belasco  decided  (to  the  lively 
disgust  of  Miss  Bates)  to  cast  the  player  of  Miss 
Hobbs,  Miss  Evelyn  Millard,  at  that  time  a  popu 
lar  favorite  in  London,  for  Madame  Butterfly, 
depending  on  himself  to  train  and  guide  her  through 
the  performance  of  that  part.  This  self-confidence 
was  fully  justified, — the  little  tragedy  being  received 
with  profound  admiration  both  by  the  press  and 
the  public.  It  was  acted  at  the  Duke  of  York's, 
April  28,  with  this  cast: 

Cho-Cho-San  (Madame  Butterfly) Evelyn  Millard. 

Mr.  Sharpless Claude  Gillingwater. 


488    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

Lieutenant  B.  F.  Pinkerton Allan  Aynesworth. 

Yamadori William  H.  Day. 

Nakado J.   C.  Buckstone. 

Suzuki Susie  Vaughan. 

Kate,  Mrs.  Pinkerton Janet  Evelyn  Sothern. 


PUCCINI    AND    BELASCO. 

Belasco,  as  he  told  me,  declined  to  attend  the 
first  London  performance  of  his  "Butterfly."  "I 
didn't  know  how  it  might  go,"  he  said,  " — and  I 
didn't  intend  to  be  called  out  and  'boo-ed.'  Froh- 
man  was  very  confident  and  kept  telling  me  it 
would  be  all  right,  but  I  didn't  go  'round  (I  was 
busy,  too,  at  the  Garrick)  till  right  at  the  end  and 
then  I  only  went  'in  front.' '  At  the  end,  however, 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  audience  was  so  great  and  the 
calls  for  him  were  so  long  and  urgent  that  he  was 
at  last  compelled  to  go  upon  the  stage  and  make 
his  grateful  acknowledgments.  "I  sometimes  feel," 
said  Belasco,  "that  the  tribute  of  that  English 
audience,  at  first  sitting  in  absolute  silence,  except 
for  the  sound  of  some  women  crying,  then  calling 
and  calling  for  me  and  waiting  and  waiting,  while 
Frohman  came  'round  in  front  and  found  me  and 
insisted  upon  my  going  to  the  stage,  was  the  most 
gratifying  I  ever  received.  Giacomo  Puccini,  the 
Italian  composer,  was  in  front  that  night  and  after 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO     489 

the  curtain  fell  he  came  behind  the  scenes  to  embrace 
me  enthusiastically  and  to  beg  me  to  let  him  use 
'Madame  Butterfly'  as  an  opera  libretto.  I  agreed 
at  once  and  told  him  he  could  do  anything  he  liked 
with  the  play  and  make  any  sort  of  contract  he 
liked — because  it  is  not  possible  to  discuss  business 
arrangements  with  an  impulsive  Italian  who  has 
tears  in  his  eyes  and  both  his  arms  round  your 
neck!  I  never  believed  he  did  see  'Madame  Butter 
fly'  that  first  night;  he  only  heard  the  music  he 
was  going  to  write.  Afterward  I  came  to  know 
him  well,  and  found  him  the  most  agreeable  and 
simple-hearted  fellow  in  the  world, — a  great  artist 
without  the  so-called  'temperament.' " 


"MADAME  BUTTERFLY"  AS  AN  OPERA.— A  PROPOSAL  BY 
LADY  VALERIE  MEUX. 

Puccini's  opera,  entitled  "Madama  Butterfly," 
was  first  performed  in  New  York,  in  an  English 
version,  under  the  management  of  Henry  Savage, 
at  the  Garden  Theatre,  November  12,  1906.  Elza 
Szamosy,  an  Hungarian,  sang  Cio-Cio-San;  Har 
riet  Behne  Suzuki;  Joseph  F.  Sheehan  Pinkerton, 
and  Winifred  Goff  Mr.  Sharpless.  The  first  per 
formance  of  it  in  Italian  occurred  in  New  York, 
at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House,  February  11, 


490    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

1907,  when, — with  its  composer  among  the  audience 
— it  was  sung  by  the  following  cast: 

Cio-Cio-San Greraldine    Farrar. 

Suzuki Louise  Homer. 

Kate,  Mrs.  Pinker  ton Laura  Mapleson. 

La  Madre Josephine  Jacoby . 

La  Cugina Shearman. 

La  Zia Moran. 

Lieutenant  Pmkerton Enrico  Caruso. 

Mr.  Sliarpless Antonio    Scotti. 

Goro Albert  Reiss. 

Yamadori Paroli. 

Lo  Zio  Bonzo Adolf  Miihlmann. 

Yakuside Giulio  Rossi. 

11  Commissario  Imperiale Begue. 

Un  Ufficiale  del  Registro Francesco   Navarini. 

Referring  to  the  production  of  this  opera  at  the 
Metropolitan,  Belasco  writes:  "I  loaned  my  models 
[for  the  scenery]  and  sent  over  my  electricians." — 
I  have  not  heard  Puccini's  music.  My  old  friend 
and  colleague  Henry  Edward  Krehbiel  has  writ 
ten  of  it: 

"...  Genuine  Japanese  tunes  come  to  the  surface  of 
the  instrumental  flood  at  intervals  and  tunes  which  copy 
their  characteristics  of  rhythm,  melody,  and  color.  As  a 
rule  this  is  a  dangerous  proceeding  except  in  comedy  which 
aims  to  chastise  the  foibles  and  follies  of  a  people  and  a 
period.  Nothing  is  more  admirable,  however,  than  Signor 


Photograph  by  Aime  Dupont. 


Belasco's  Collection. 


GERALDINE    FARRAR    AS    CHI-CHI-SAN,    IN    PUCCINI'S 

OPERA,  "MADAMA  BUTTERFLY,"  BASED  ON 

BELASCO'S  TRAGEDY 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  EELASCO     491 

Puccini's  use  of  it  to  heighten  the  dramatic  climaxes;  the 
merry  tune  with  which  Cio-Cio-San  diverts  her  child  in  the 
Second  Act  and  the  use  of  a  bald  native  tune  thundered  out 
"fortissimo  in  naked  unison  with  the  periodic  punctuations  of 
harmony  at  the  close  are  striking  cases  in  point.  Nor 
should  the  local  color  in  the  delineation  of  the  break  of  day 
in  the  beginning  of  the  Third  Act  and  the  charmingly 
felicitous  use  of  mellifluous  songs  in  the  Marriage  Scene  be 
overlooked.  Always  the  effect  is  musical  and  dramatically 
helpful.  As  for  the  rest  there  are  many  moments  of  a 
strange  charm  in  the  score,  music  filled  with  a  haunting  ten 
derness  and  poetic  loveliness,  music  in  which  there  is  a 
beautiful  meeting  of  the  external  picture  and  the  spiritual 
content  of  the  scene.  Notable  among  these  moments  is  the 
scene  in  which  Butterfly  and  her  attendant  scatter  flowers 
throughout  the  room  in  expectation  of  Pinkertorfs  return. 
Here  melodies  and  harmonies  are  exhaled  like  the  odors  of 
the  flowers." 

And  elsewhere  Mr.  Krehbiel  remarks  that 

"there  is  nothing  more  admirable  in  the  score  of  'Madama 
Butterfly'  than  the  refined  and  ingenious  skill  with  which 
the  composer  bent  the  square-toed  rhythms  and  monotonous 
tunes  of  Japanese  music  to  his  purposes." 

"Madame  Butterfly"  ran  at  the  Duke  of  York's 
Theatre  until  July  13.  In  America  it  was  pre 
sented,  throughout  the  season  of  1900-'01,  begin 
ning  at  Elmira,  New  York,  September  17,  in 
association  with  "Naughty  Anthony,"  by  a  com 
pany  headed  by  Miss  Valerie  Bergere  and  Charles 


492    THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO 

E.  Evans.  On  February  18,  1901,  the  tragedy 
was  acted  at  Proctor's  Fifth  Avenue  Theatre,  New 
York,  and  ran  till  May  11.  Miss  Bergere 
performed  as  Cho-Cho-San  until  March  29,  when 
she  was  succeeded  by  the  French  actress  Mile. 
Pilar-Morin.  Since  then  "Butterfly"  has  been 
acted  unnumbered  times. 

During  the  summer  season  of  "Zaza"  in  London 
(1900),  Belasco  was  approached  by  the  eccentric 
Lady  Valerie  Meux,  a  person  of  great  wealth  and 
peculiar  antecedents,  with  a  proposal  that  he  give 
up  the  management  and  direction  of  Mrs.  Carter 
and  assume  that  of  Mrs.  Cora  Urquhart  Potter, 
in  whom  she  was  then  much  interested.  Belasco 
was  well  acquainted  with  Mrs.  Potter,  who,  indeed, 
was  one  of  the  many  amateur  players  trained  by 
him  while  at  the  Madison  Square  Theatre  (1884, 
et  seq.)  and  for  whose  professional  appearance  on 
the  stage,  under  the  management  of  Daniel  Froh- 
man,  he  had  arranged,  in  1886, — an  arrangement 
which  Mrs.  Potter  suddenly  abrogated.  Belasco 
esteemed  her  histrionic  abilities  much  higher  than 
ever  there  was  warrant  for  doing  (he  has  written 
about  her:  "If  I  could  have  succeeded  in  drawing 
her  away  from  society,  from  the  host  of  admirers 
and  over-zealous  friends  who  fondled  and  petted 
her  and  kept  her  from  really  working,  and  if  she 


THE  LIFE  OF  DAVID  BELASCO    493 

could  have  appreciated  the  simplicity  of  life,  she 
could  have  taken  front  rank  in  her  profession"),  but 
he  would  not  give  up  the  direction  or  Mrs.  Carter's 
career  and  therefore  he  declined  Lady  Meux's  pro 
posal.  That  singular  person  then  expressed  a  wish 
that  he  should  transfer  his  theatrical  activities  from 
America  to  England,  offered  to  build  for  him  "the 
finest  playhouse  in  the  land"  and  to  provide  him 
with  ample  money  with  which  to  conduct  it,  so  that 
he  "might  be  free  and  untrammelled  by  financial 
cares"  and  fulfil  all  his  ambitions.  "Of  course," 
he  has  said,  in  telling  me  of  these  incidents,  "her 
offer  had  a  tempting  sound,  but  nothing  could  have 
induced  me  to  accept  it.  Not  only  would  I  not 
consider  deserting  Mrs.  Carter,  but  I  knew  that 
Mrs.  Potter  could  never  give  up  the  social  world 
for  the  exclusive  hard  work  of  the  Stage  And  also 
I  knew  that  within  a  year,  perhaps  less,  Lady  Meux 
would  have  grown  tired  of  her  fancy  and  my  posi 
tion  would  be  intolerable.  I  wanted  a  theatre  in 
London — in  fact,  I  want  one  now  and,  perhaps,  in 
spite  of  the  war,  I  may  have  one  yet — but  not  one 
tied  up  in  apron-strings."  His  decision  to  reject 
the  offers  of  Lady  Meux  certainly  was  wise. 


INDEX  TO  VOLUME  ONE 


INDEX  TO  VOLUME  ONE 


B.=David  Belasco. 


Abbey,  Henry  Eugene  (Am.  th. 
man.:  1848-1896):  plans  to  pro 
duce  S.  Morse's  "Passion  Play" 
in  N.  Y.,  122. 

Abbey's  New  Park  Th.,  N.  Y., 
burned,  122. 

Academy  of  Music,  N.  Y.:  Sal- 
vini's  first  Am.  appearance  at, 
59. 

"Across  the  Continent"  (play) :  B. 
acts  in,  104. 

Acting:  schools  of  and  teaching 
of — the  subject  critically  consid 
ered,  348,  et  seq. 

Actors:  early,  in  Calif.,  131. 

Adams,  Annie  (Asenath  Annie 
Adams — Mrs.  James  Kiskaden — 
Mrs.  Harvey  K.  Glidden:  Am. 
actress:  1849-1916):  62. 

Adams,  Eflwin  (Am.  actor:  1834- 
1877):  in  S.  F.,  90;  204. 

Adams,  John  (actor):  132. 

Adams  (Kiskaden),  Maude  (Am. 
actress:  1872-19—):  62. 

"Adolph  Challet"  (play) :  237. 

"ADREA"  (tragedy) :  477. 

"Adrienne  Lecouvreur"  (play) : 
103. 

"Agnes"   (play):  105. 

"Aladdin  No.  2;  or,  The  Wonder 
ful  Scamp"  (burlesque):  37; 
221. 

Alberta,  Laura  (Am.  actress):  B. 
acts  with,  in  S.  F.,  49;  74; 
229. 

Albery,  James  (Eng.  dramatist: 
1838-1889) :  336. 

Aldrich,  Louis  (Moses  Lyon:  Am. 
actor:  1843-1901 ):  345 ;  good  act 
ing  by,  346;  sketch  of,  347,  et 


Allemany,  Archbishop,  of  S.  F.: 
approves  "The  Passion  Play," 
116. 

Allen,  Charles  E.  (actor) :  36. 

Allen,  Charles  L.  (lawyer):  390. 

Allen,  Charles  Leslie  (Am.  actor: 
1830-1917) :  382. 

"All  the  Comforts  of  Home" 
(farce):  375. 

"Alpine  Roses"    (play):  279;  280. 

Alta  California,"  "The  (S.  F. 
newspaper) :  notice  in,  quoted  re 
"Passion  Play,"  118. 

Amberg,  Gustav  (Ger.-Am.  th. 
man.) :  251. 

"AMERICAN  BORN"  (melod.):  writ 
ten — and  produced — cast  of,  257, 
et  seq.;  260;  261;  269;  270;  276. 

American  Theatre,  S.  F.:  Julia 
Dean,  lessee  of,  7. 

"Amy  Robsart"  (play) :  210. 

Anderson,  David  H.  (Am.  actor: 
1814-1884) :  36. 

"Andrea"  (play):  311. 

Andrews,  Lillian  (Am.  actress): 
187. 

Apostate,"  "The  (tragedy):  94; 
160. 

"Armadale"  (Collins*  novel) : 
dramatization  of,  92. 

"Arrah-na-Pogue"  (comedy) :  Bou- 
cicault  and  wife  in,  58 ;  225 ;  261. 

Art,  dramatic:  suggestion  in — in 
structive  comment  re,  by  B.,v 
418. 

"Article  47"  (play):  B.'s  version 
of,  93. 

ASSOMMOIR,"  "L'  (novel):  Daly's 
view  of  Fr.  dramatization  of, 
184;  same  makes  and  produces 
Eng.  version — which  fails — B. 
makes  version — which  succeeds, 
185;  cast  of  B.'s  version  of,  186; 


487 


498 


INDEX 


difficulties  during  rehearsals  of, 

187;  run  of,  188;  189. 
"As  You  Like  It":  43;  137. 
Atkinson,  Henry   (actor):  135. 
Audran,  Edmond    (Fr.   musician: 

1840-1901):    396;    writes    letter 

praising  Mrs.  Carter,  398. 
AUCTIONEER,"  "THE  (play):  139. 


Bachelor  of  Arts,"  "A  (farce):  344. 

Bailey,  Philip  James  (the  poet: 
1820-1902) :  249. 

Baker  and  Farron  [theatrical] 
Company:  88;  89. 

Baker,  Emily:  87. 

Baldwin,  Edward  J.  ("Lucky 
Baldwin"):  builds  Baldwin's  A. 
of  M.,  S.  F.,  86;  not  friendly 
with  T.  Maguire,  87;  supports 
"The  Passion  Play"  in  S.  F., 
115;  withdraws  support  of  Ma 
guire,  183. 

Baldwin's  Academy  of  Music,  S. 
F.:  built,  86;  opened  with  "  K. 
R.  III."— and  B.  employed  at, 
.  87 ;  Sullivan's  repertory  at — and 
Gates  Opera  Co.  at,  88;  G.  F. 
Rowe  at,  92;  farewell  engage 
ment  of  A.  Neilson  at,  210;  Ma 
guire  loses,  253. 

Bandmann,  Daniel  Edward  (Ger 
man-Am,  actor:  1840-1905):  133. 

Banishment  of  Catiline,"  "The 
(poem) :  recited  by  B.,  26. 

Banker's  Daughter,"  "The  (play): 
re  authorship  of— and  first  pro 
duced,  125;  126;  resemblance  of 
'The  Millionaire's  Daughter"  to, 
128;  engagement  of,  in  S.  F.! 
cancelled,  129;  328. 

Banks,  Maude:  349. 

Barker,  H.  Granville  (Eng.  actor, 
playwright  and  th.  man.:  1874- 
19—):  and  "modern"  methods 
of,  anticipated  by  B.,  355. 

Barnes,  George  E.  (dramatic  re 
viewer  in  S.  F.) :  103. 

"BARON  RUDOLPH"  (melod.):  pro 
duction  of— and  story— failure 
of,  321,  et  seq.;  rewritten  by 
Howard— and  by  B.,  324;  cast 
of,  326. 


BARRETT,  LAWRENCE  P.  (Am.  actor 
and  th.  man.;  1838-1891):  42; 
acts  King  Henry  the  Fifth  in 
S.  F.,  91;  95;  first  appearance 
of,  in  S.  F.,  135;  feeling  of,  to 
ward  McCullough — and  charac 
ters  of  Cassius,  and  Antony, 
165;  first  plays  Cassius — and 
same,  in  S.  F.,  166. 

Barrett,  Hon.  George  C.  (Judge — 
N.  Y.) :  122. 

Barrows,  James  O.  (Am.  actor): 
schoolboy  companion  of  B. — 
wins  medal  in  Comedy,  12;  B.'s 
early  friendship  with,  27. 

Barry,  William  (actor) :  131. 

B  anymore,  Maurice  (Eng.- Am. 
actor  and  dramatist:  1848-1905): 
309;  427. 

BATES,  BLANCHE  (Mrs.  Milton  F. 
Davis — Mrs.  George  Creel:  Am. 
actress:  1872-19—):  35;  62;  74; 
B.'s  first  meeting  with,  77; 
mother's  ambition  for — and  B.'s 
promise  re,  78;  beauty — qualities 
—potentialities  of,  469,  et  seq.; 
lapse  of,  into  obscurity — and 
biographical  particulars  re,  471, 
et  seq.;  first  acts  under  B.'s  man 
agement  in  "Naughty  Anthony," 
473,  et  seq.;  as  Cora,  in  same, 
474;  same,  475;  her  perform 
ance  of  Madame  Butterfly,  483; 
487. 

Bates,  Frank  Mark  (Am.  actor: 
18 18—):  75;  murdered,  76. 

BATES,  MRS.  FRANK  MARK  (Frances 
Marion  Hinckley — Mrs.  Charles 
L.  Lord:  Am.  actress:  1848- 
1908):  35;  74;  B.'s  recollection 
of,  and  of  her  husband,  75,  et 
seq.;  B.  acts  Armand  Duval  with, 
76;  B.'s  promise  to,  re  daughter, 
77;  on  B.'s  facility  in  adapting 
plays,  84;  133;  472. 

Beauty  and  the  Brigands,"  "The 
(burlesque) :  37. 

Behne,  Harriet   (singer) :  489. 

Belasco,  Augusta  (Mrs.  William 
Elliott) :  469. 

BELASCO,  DAVID  (American 
theatrical  manager,  playwright, 
stage  manager,  actor,  dramatist: 
1853-19—):  qualities  of— ances- 


INDEX 


499 


try  and  parentage,  1;  parents 
go  to  Calif. — birth  of — and  re 
moved  to  Victoria,  B.  C.,  2 ;  early 
influences  affecting — education 
of — early  years  in  Roman  Cath 
olic  monastery,  4;  residence  of, 
in  monastery — abiding  effect  of 
R.  C.  influence  on — runs  away — 
joins  travelling  circus — be 
friended  by  a  clown,  5;  re 
claimed  by  father  and  taken 
home — theatrical  proclivity  of — 
and  "first  appearance"  of  on 
stage,  6;  his  memory  of  appear 
ing  with  Julia  Dean — his  recol 
lections  of  early  actors  charac 
terized,  7;  frequent  juvenile 
employment  of — appears  in  "K. 
R.  III.,"  with  C.  Kean  and  E. 
Tree — removal  of,  to  San  Fran 
cisco,  10;  a  pupil  at  the  Lincoln 
Grammar  School,  S.  F. — his 
teachers — his  talent  for  declama 
tion — recitations  by,  11;  "mas 
cot"  of  the  Victoria  Fire  De 
partment — pupil  at  Fourth 
Street  School,  S.  F.— wins  Gold 
Medal  in  Tragedy — early  read 
ing — first  places  of  residence  in 
S.  F.,  12;  first  play  by,  date  of, 
question  about,  etc. — boyhood 
custom  of,  as  writer — recollec 
tion  of,  re  his  play,  "The  Roll 
of  the  Drum,"  13;  passion  of, 
for  stage — letter  to,  from  boy 
hood  friend — recitations  of,  in 
boyhood — also  early  perform 
ances  participated  in  by,  14; 
recitation  by,  before  Queen 
Emma  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
— removed  with  parents  from 
Victoria — filial  devotion  of — and 
early  propensity  of,  15 ;  industry 
of,  in  childhood — public  recita 
tions — assists  parents,  16;  hard 
early  experience  of — advance 
ment — reading  and  recreation  in 
boyhood,  17;  effect  of  McCul- 
lough's  recitation  of  "The  Little 
Hero"  on — becomes  a  stowaway 
— his  story  of  his  adventures  as, 
17,  et  seq.;  leaves  school — mar 
riage  of,  19;  early  record  and 
experience  of,  as  actor,  reciter, 


etc. — payment  of  (period  1871- 
1879),  20;  bohemian  adventures 
of,  related  to  author — his  moth 
er's  name  for,  and  opinion 
about,  21;  miscellaneous  knowl 
edge  accumulated  by — tangled 
chronology  of  his  early  life— his 
"The  Story  of  My  Life"  exam 
ined  and  estimated  by  author,  22, 
et  seq.;  incorrect  recollections 
by,  rectified,  23;  time,  place,  etc., 
of  his  first  formal  appearance 
on  stage  established,  24;  his  first 
part— billed  as  "Walter  Kings- 
ley"  when  making  first  appear 
ance — reason  for  taking,  and  for 
dropping,  that  name — form  of 
his  name  in  early  playbills — 
childhood  appearances  of,  25; 
appears  with  C.  Kean — early  ap 
pearances  as  super,  reciter,  etc. — 
appears  with  Mme.  Methua- 
Scheller  (1869)  in  "Under  the 
Gas-Light" — and  with  J.  Proctor 
in  "The  Jibbenainosay" — Proc 
tor's  reason  for  employing  him, 
26;  appears  in  Prof.  Hager's 
"The  Great  Republic"— his  parts 
in — appears  in  amateur  per 
formances  at  Platt's  Hall,  S.  F. 
— early  association  with  J.  O. 
Barrows,  27;  smitten  with 
Lotta — appears  with  amateur 
actors'  association  in  S.  F. 
(1871)  and  is  commended  by 
local  newspaper — meets  J.  Mc- 
Cullough,  28;  advantage  of 
McC.'s  friendship — early  friend 
ship  with  W.  H.  Sedley-Smith, 
29;  Sedley-Smith's  influence  on 
— same  employs,  at  Calif.  Th. 
and  advice  of  same  to,  33;  his 
actual  adoption  of  stage — acts 
with  J.  Murphy,  in  "Help,"  34; 
actors  with  whom  associated  in 
"Help" — date  of  his  association 
with  Chapman  Sisters,  35 ;  at  the 
Metropolitan  Th.  in  '73,  36;  his 
parts  in  various  performances 
at  the  Metro. — makes  "a  hit"  as 
Prince  Saucilita,  in  "The  Gold 
Demon,"  37;  earning  extra  pay, 
38;  early  acquaintances  of — the 
atrical  vagabondage  of — and  de- 


500 


INDEX 


scribes  same,  39,  et  seq.;  early 
parts  played  by,  41;  eking  out 
a  living — early  admiration,  etc., 
of  Walter  Montgomery,  42,  et 
ieq.;  chief  recitations  by — ap 
pearances  of,  at  Platt's  Hall, 
about  1870— first  meeting  with 
future  wife — impression  of,  44; 
serious  injury  to — near  death — 
marriage  of,  45;  travels  with 
Chapman  Sisters — returns  to  S. 
F.— employed  by  J.  H.  Le  Roy 
— suggests  "The  New  Magdalen" 
for  B.  Pateman,  46;  his  recol 
lections  of  first  performance  of 
that  play — and  of  Miss  Pate 
man — engaged  at  Shiels'  O.  H., 
48;  another  engagement  with 
Murphy — acts  with  L.  Alberta — 
with  F.  Cathcart  and  G.  Dar- 
rell — various  parts  played  by, 
49;  acts  for  bft.  J.  Dunbar— 
goes  to  Virginia  City,  Nev.,  un 
der  management  J.  Piper,  50; 
varied  experience  in  Virginia 
City,  51;  associated  there  with 
Mrs.  D.  P.  Bowers — and  regard 
for  same — meeting  with  Dion 
Boucicault — confusion  about — 
and  facts  considered — profound 
influence  on,  of  Boucicault — 
B.'s  reminiscence  of  same,  52, 
et  seq.;  author's  opinion  re 
Boucicault's  employment  of,  in 
Virginia  City — opinion  of,  about 
Boucicault — first  S.  F.  appear 
ance  of,  again  mentioned,  57; 
not  in  Virginia  City  before  1873 
— disappears  from  S.  F.  records 
— and  goes  to  Virginia  C.,  60; 
concerning,  and  Boucicault,  in 
Virginia  C. — number  of  engage 
ments  there  filled  by — period  of 
his  career,  1873-1876,  61;  ac 
tors  associated  with,  in  Virginia 
C.  enumerated — and  painful  ex 
perience  of,  with  demented  wom 
an,  62;  freed  from  control  of 
Piper — returns  to  S.  F. — appears 
with  A.  Neilson  during  her  first 
S.  F.  engagement — sees  the  Lin- 
gards  in  "La  Tentation,"  63; 
sees  Raymond  in  "Led  Astray" 
r-consulted  re  "The  Gilded 


Age" — his  recollection  of  same 
and  J.  T.  Raymond,  64;  em 
ployed  by  Lingard — and  by 
Barton  Hill — plays  and  actors 
associated  with,  summer  of  1874, 
68;  his  admiration  for  S.  W. 
Piercy,  69;  "barnstorming"  ven 
tures  by — employed  by  Mile. 
Zoe — and  appears  with — secre 
tary  to  T.  Maguire — appears 
with  J.  A.  Herne,  etc.,  70;  the 
same — and  sees  Mayo  in  "Grif 
fith  Gaunt" — makes  a  version  of 
same — again  works  with  J.  H. 
Le  Roy,  71;  works  with  Herne, 
etc. — assists  in  revival  of  "Oliver 
Twist" — revives  and  produces 
"The  Enchantress"  for  A.  Ben 
nett — and  appears  in,  with  same, 
72 ;  temperamental  heedlessness 
of,  re  dates — author's  consequent 
difficulty  in  making  Chronology, 
73;  most  important  event  of 
early  life — nature  of  his  experi 
ence — "stars"  associated  with, 
74;  his  reminiscences  of  the 
"minstrel"  "Jake"  Wallace— and 
of  Frank  M.,  and  Mrs.  Bates, 
75;  admiration  of,  for  J.  E. 
Owens — and  writes  play  for — 
kindness  to,  and  instruction  of, 
by  C.  R.  Thorne,  Sr.,  78;  "barn 
storming"  with  a  "beautiful 
school  teacher" — friendship  with 
Mary  Gladstane — and  admira 
tion  for  "Mary  Warner,"  79; 
plays  produced  by,  with  Miss 
Rogers — liking  of,  for  "Robert 
Macaire" — "specialties"  of  B. — • 
makes  wigs,  80;  returns  to  S.  F. 
to  study  Hooley  Comedy  Co., 
W.  H.  Crane,  etc. — employed  by 
Hooley,  81 ;  willingness  and  sim 
plicity  of,  re  labor — employed 
by  Emmet  as  dresser — and  acts 
with,  82;  studies  Daly's  produc 
tions — and  refused  engagement 
by  same — peddles  "patent  medi 
cines,"  83;  prepares  prompt 
books — marvellous  resources  of, 
84;  first  meeting  of,  with  J. 
A.  Sawtell — later  association — 
joins  Thorne,  Sr.,  at  his  Palace 
Th. — and  not  paid  by,  85;  plays 


INDEX 


501 


acted  in  with  Thorne,  Sr. — ap 
pears  with  F.  Jones,  86 ;  prompt 
er  and  assistant  stage  manager 
at  Baldwin's  Academy  of  Music, 
S.  F.— associated  with  B.  Sul 
livan — and  others,  87;  plays 
acted  in  by,  with  Sullivan — he 
returns  to  Maguire's  New  Th., 
88;  views  of,  re  difficult  parts 
— interesting  reminiscence  of 
Sullivan — goes  "barnstorming" 
again,  89;  acts  in  bfts.— sees  E. 
Adams — sees  G.  Rignold  in 
"King  Henry  V.,"  90;  and  sees 
Barrett  in  same — diverse  activi 
ties  of— acts  with  G.  F.  Rowe— 
appears  again  in  "Under  the 
Gas-Light" — meets  Eleanor  Ca 
rey,  92;  makes  play  on  "Article 
47"  for  Miss  Carey,  93;  period 
of  his  life,  1876-1879,  et  seq  — 
sees  and  studies  E.  Booth — and 
appears  with  same  at  Calif.  Th. 
— his  Booth  relics — works  for 
Ward  and  W.  Montague,  96; 
travels  with  F.  M.  Phelps — and 
joins  F.  Gardner  in  "The  Egyp 
tian  Mystery,"  97;  his  appear 
ance  with  same — and  plays  writ 
ten  by,  for,  enumerated,  99; 
recitations  by,  in  same  associa 
tion — and  his  reminiscence  of — 
experiments  in  stage  lighting, 
99;  travels  with  "The  Egyptian 
Mystery" — sees  Modjeska's  first 
Am.  appearance,  100;  recollec 
tions  of  same,  102;  acting  and 
stage  managing  with  T.  W. 
Keene,  103;  acting  with  the 
"Frayne  Troupe"— plays  old 
women — and  goes  to  Bush  St. 
Th.,  S.  F.,  104;  at  the  Baldwin 
again— directs  the  N.  Y.  Union 
Square  Theatre  Co.  in  S.  F.— 
and  travels  and  acts  with — trib 
ute  to,  by  that  co.,  105 ;  letter  to, 
from  F.  F.  Mackay  on  behalf 
of  same — his  "Dearer  than 
Life"  and  his  "Olivia"  produced, 
106;  his  "Olivia"— and  alters  "A 
Woman  of  the  People,"  107; 
makes  "Proof  Positive"  for  R. 
Wood— directs  C.  Morris— and 
adapts  "Not  Guilty,"  108;  his 


"Not  Guilty"  produced  in  S.  F. 
— recollections  of  that  produc 
tion — leaves  the  Baldwin,  110; 
contemptible  treatment  of,  re 
"Not  Guilty"— Baldwin  inter 
venes — and  an  experience  with 
D.  Thompson  and  J.  M.  Hill, 
111,  et  seq.;  returns  to  S.  F. 
and  to  the  Baldwin — adapts  and 
produces  "Within  an  Inch  of 
His  Life,"  113;  "fire  effect"  in 
same,  114;  S.  Morse's  "Passion 
Play"  produced  by,  etc.,  115,  et 
seq.;  his  opinion  of  O'Neill's 
Jesus  Christ—he  adapts  "La  Fa- 
mille  Benoiton !" — and  write  3 
"The  Millionaire's  Daughter," 
125;  his  account  of  producing 
same,  126,  et  seq.;  accused  of 
plagiarism — and  comment  there 
on,  128;  detraction  of  B. — rea 
son  for,  and  examined,  129,  et 
seq.;  nature  of  early  influences 
affecting,  133;  characteristics  of 
— and  early  influences  on,  again, 
134;  sees  opening  of  the  Cali 
fornia  Theatre,  S.  F.,  135;  spe 
cial  histrionic  idols  of — a  Shake 
spearean  student  and  scholar — 
and  nature  of  early  training 
as  such,  136;  plays  of  S.  fa 
miliar  to— parts  in  S.  plays  acted 
by — and  women  of,  acted  by, 
137;  pre-eminently  qualified  to 
produce  Shakespeare — and  rea 
sons  why  he  has  not  yet  done  so 
in  N.  Y.,  138;  on  Shylock,  D. 
Warfield  as,  etc.,  139 ;  a  prescient 
manager — his  repertory  as  an 
actor — more  than  170  parts  and 
plays  enumerated,  140,  et  seq.; 
his  "The  Story  of  My  Life" 
critically  examined  by  author, 
148,  et  seq.;  author  and,  on 
stage  deaths,  etc.,  150;  not  the 
inventor  of  "natural"  acting, 
155;  not  a  disparager  of  the 
Past,  157;  in  boyhood,  sees  and 
studies  Daly's  Co.,  158;  great 
service  of,  to  Stage,  159;  and 
nature  of — his  qualities — and  in 
fluences  affecting,  161;  detrac 
tion  of,  by  criticasters,  1C2;  en 
during  nature  of  his  achieve- 


502 


INDEX 


ments,  163;  birth  of—and  mis 
leading  accounts  of  his  early 
career,  164,  et  seq.;  errors  of,  re 
Barrett,  McCullough,  Montgom 
ery,  etc.,  corrected,  165,  et  seq.; 
views  of,  re  "one-part  actors," 
Salvini,  Irving,  Jefferson,  etc., 
contravened,  168,  et  seq.;  R. 
Coghlan  engaged  at  his  request, 
177;  Miss  Coghlan's  attitude  to 
ward,  178;  they  become  good 
friends — Miss  C.  appears  under 
his  direction — he  writes  play  for 
same,  179;  Wallack  wishes  to 
buy  that  play,  180;  B.'s  recol 
lection  of  Herne  and  K.  Cor 
coran,  181;  bft.  for  B.  and 
Herne,  182;  B.  on  same — and 
Maguire  and  Baldwin,  183;  he 
makes  version  of  "L'Assom- 
moir,"  185;  and  same  is  pro 
duced  by,  186;  friction  at 
rehearsals  of  same,  187;  he  pro 
jects  play  of  "Chums"  for 
O'Neill  and  Morrison,  188; 
writes  and  produces  same  with 
Herne  and  his  wife,  189;  failure 
thereof,  190;  leaves  S.  F.  to 
venture  in  East,  191;  arranges 
to  bring  out  "Chums"  in  Chi 
cago  as  "Hearts  of  Oak,"  192; 
success  of  venture  in  Chicago, 
193;  dissension  between,  and 
Herne  begins,  195;  B.  and 
Herne  come  to  N.  Y.,  196;  con 
sequence  to,  of  failure  in  N.  Y., 
206;  badly  treated  by  Herne— 
and  sells  "Hearts  of  Oak"  in 
terest,  207 ;  account  of  his  return 
to  S.  F.,  208,  et  seq.;  re-employed 
in  minor  capacity  at  the  Bald 
win — and  his  recollections  of 
Miss  Neilson  and  her  farewell, 
209,  et  seq.;  his  "Paul  Arniff," 
214;  produced,  215;  his  version 
of  "True  to  the  Core,"  220; 
various  productions  directed  by 
— his  recollections  and  estimate 
of  W.  E.  Sheridan,  221;  impres 
sion  made  on,  by  Sheridan — and 
gives  imitations  of  that  actor — 
recollections  of  Laura  Don,  225, 
et  seq.;  produces  "Wedded  by 
Fate"— and  recollections  of  H. 


B.  McDowell,  227;  again  asso 
ciated  with  Geo.  Darrell,  229; 
his  play  of  "La  Belle  Russe," 
£30,  et  seq.;  same  produced — 
and  success  of,  236;  requests 
Tearle  to  inform  Wallack  con 
cerning  same — his  "The  Stran- 
glers  of  Paris,"  237;  same  pro 
duced — story  and  quality  of, 
238;  takes  "La  Belle  Russe"  to 
N.  Y.,  241;  harsh  treatment  of, 
by  Maguire,  242;  sells  "La  Belle 
Russe"  outright,  243;  returns  to 
S.  F.  and  the  Baldwin,  244;  er 
rors  of,  re  Wallack,  corrected, 
245,  et  seq.;  his  "La  Belle 
Russe"  produced  at  Wallack's, 
246;  directing  for  Sheridan 
again,  in  S.  F.,  247;  his  "The 
Curse  of  Cain" — recollections  of 
— and  views  of  the  character  of 
Cain,  248,  et  seq.;  fidelity  of,  to 
Maguire,  253;  associated  with  G. 
Frohman,  254;  and  revives  his 
alteration  of  "The  Octoroon" 
with  G.  Frohman,  255;  descrip 
tion  of  "effects"  in,  256;  writes 
"American  Born,"  257;  pro 
duces  same,  258;  first  meeting 
of,  and  C.  Frohman,  259,  et 
seq.;  accepts  employment  at 
Madison  Square  Theatre,  N.  Y. 
—leaves  S.  F.  with  G.  Froh- 
man's  Co.,  261;  letter  to,  from 
F.  F.  Mackaye,  262;  retrospect 
of  his  early  career — and  partial 
list  of  plays  produced  by,  prior 
to  1882,  263,  et  seq.;  produces 
"American  Born"  in  Chicago, 
269;  recollections  of  same — and 
of  journey  East,  270,  et  seq.; 
interview  with  Dr.  Mallory — en 
gagement  at  Mad.  Sq.  Th.  con 
firmed — and  comment  on  by  au 
thor,  etc.,  275,  et  seq.;  hard  terms 
of  contract  with,  277;  unrecog 
nized  labors  of,  278;  plays  pro 
duced  by,  at  Mad.  Sq.  Th.,  prior 
to  1884,  279;  production — con 
tents — significance  of  his  "May 
Blossom,"  280,  et  seq.;  faints  at 
first  performance  of  "May  Blos 
som" — gratitude  of,  to  author, 
287;  accused  of  plagiarism,  288; 


INDEX 


503 


and  cleared  of  charge,  289;  goes 
to  England  for  first  time — au 
thor  and,  meet  for  first  time, 
290,  et  seq.;  adapts  "Called 
Back,"  291;  friction  with 
Palmer — interview  with  same 
and  Boucicault,  293;  he  leaves 
the  Mad.  Sq.  Th.— project  of 
starring  as  Hamlet,  etc.,  294,  et 
seq.;  association  with  S.  Mac- 
kaye,  296;  quarrel  with,  and 
same  ended,  297;  writes  "Va 
lerie"  for  L.  Wallack,  298;  par 
ticulars  of  that  task,  299;  his 
"Valerie"  considered,  300,  et 
seq.;  feeling  of,  toward  Wallack, 
305;  errors  of,  corrected,  306; 
returns  to  S.  F...  307;  his  "Va 
lerie"  in  S.  F.,  308 ;  cast  of  same 
— and  other  plays  produced, 
309;  extraordinary  performance 
for  bft.  of — cast,  etc.,  310,  et 
seq.;  returns  to  N.  Y.,  311;  en 
gaged  at  the  Lyceum  Theatre, 
313;  makes  "The  Highest  Bid 
der"  for  E.  H.  Sothern,  314, 
et  seq.;  produces  "The  Great 
Pink  Pearl"  and  "Editha's  Bur 
glar" — develops  Elsie  Leslie, 
317;  with  Greene,  writes  "Pawn 
Ticket  210"  for  Lotta,  318,  et 
seq.;  productive  industry  of — 
produces  "Baron  Rudolph"  (re 
written  in  style  of  Howard) — 
and  strives  to  save  Knight  from 
failure  in,  321,  et  seq.;  his 
recollections  of  G.  Knight  and 
this  play  ("Only  a  Tramp"), 
325;  commissioned  to  write  sec 
ond  play  for  the  Lyceum,  326; 
takes  Henry  C.  De  Mille  into 
collaboration— they  write  "The 
Wife" — and  B.'s  recollections  of, 
etc.,  327,  et  seq.;  success  of 
"The  Wife"  due  to  scene  in 
vented  by — method  of  collabora 
tion  of,  and  De  Mille,  334;  he 
forces  "The  Wife"  into  success, 
336;  B.  and  De  Mille  commis 
sioned  to  write  play  for  younger 
Sothern — and  B.  revises  Gil 
lette's  "She,"  etc.,  337,  et  seq.; 
his  work  as  a  teacher  of  acting — 
goes  to  Echo  Lake  and  writes 


"Lord  Chumley"  with  De  Mille, 
340;  on  actors  and  their  choice 
of  parts — persuades  Sothern  to 
act  Chumley,  341;  recollections 
of  writing  "Lord  Chumley,"  343; 
varied  labors  of — and  revises 
"The  Kaffir  Diamond,"  345,  et 
seq.;  his  view  of  schools  of  act 
ing,  349;  a  master — and  wholly 
exceptional  as  a  teacher  of  act 
ing,  etc.,  351,  et  seq.;  "Electra" 
revived  under  his  direction — his 
recollections  of,  353;  anticipates 
G.  Barker  and  "modern  meth 
ods"  by  more  than  a  quarter-of- 
a-century — miscellaneous  work 
of,  at  Lyceum,  355;  places 
"Robert  Elsmere"  on  the  stage 
for  Gillette — commissioned  to 
write  third  play  for  Lyceum, 

356,  et  seq.;  on  best  subjects  for 
the     Drama — and     writes     "The 
Charity    Ball"    with    De    Mille, 

357,  et  seq.;  association  of,  with 
Mrs.    Leslie    Carter,    361;    first 
meeting  of,  and  same,  362;  Mrs. 
Carter  seeks,  at  Echo  Lake,  363; 
impressed    by    latent    talent    of 
same — and   determines    to   train 
her,    363;    unable    to    hold    re 
hearsals   for   lack   of   a   stage — 
undertakes  to  revise  and  produce 
"The  Prince  and  the  Pauper"  in 
return  for  use  of  a  stage,  365,  et 
seq.;  quality  of,  when  angered — 
opinion  of  Elsie  Leslie — and  her 
supporting  co.,  367;  his  bargain 
for  stage  of  the  Lyceum  repudi 
ated,  368;  his  bitter  resentment 
of — and  retires  from  the  Lyce 
um,  369;  his  shackled  situation, 
after    twenty    years    of    labor, 
370;     desperate     resolution     of, 
371;   training  Mrs.  Carter — and 
his   situation  grows  worse,  372; 
proposal   to,   by   C.    Frohman — 
and    same    accepted — "Men    and 
Women"   written    for   C.   Froh 
man,  382;   seeks   play   for   Mrs. 
Carter — and  employs  P.  M.  Pot 
ter,   384;    arrangement   of,   with 
N.  K.  Fairbank,  to  "back"  Mrs. 
Carter— disappointed  by  Potter, 
384;       employs       Gordon — and 


504 


INDEX 


throws  out  all  his  work— revises 
"The  Ugly  Duckling"— and  pro 
duces  same,  385;  difficulties  in 
starring  Mrs.  Carter,  387;  de 
serted  by  Fairbank,  388;  Fair- 
bank  repudiates  obligations  to — 
and  B.  sues  him,  389;  B.'s  suit 
against  Fairbank— and  origin  of 
preposterous  story  about  B.'s 
methods  of  instruction,  390; 
Mrs.  Carter's  acknowledgment 
of  debt  to— and  his  view  of  Fair- 
bank,  391;  writing  "The  Heart 
of  Maryland" — and  bitter  strug 
gle  of,  392;  shifts  to  make  a 
living,  393;  reminiscence  of, 
about  Mrs.  Carter,  394;  proposal 
to,  by  C.  Frohman,  for  man 
agerial  alliance,  395;  same  ac 
cepted — and  adapts  "Miss  Hel- 
yett"  for  American  stage — in 
terviews  of,  with  Audran  and 
Wyndham,  396;  with  C.  Froh 
man  he  produces  "Miss  Hel- 
yett" — and  his  work  on  same, 
397;  meets  Audran  and  obtains 
letter  of  commendation  from, 
398;  lays  aside  "The  Heart  of 
Maryland"  to  assist  C.  Froh 
man — takes  F.  Fyles  into  col 
laboration — and  appreciative  re 
membrance  of,  402;  writes  "The 
Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me"  with 
Fyles,  403;  shrewd  judgment  in 
selecting  novel  theme  for,  404; 
his  play  of  "The  Girl  I  Left 
Behind  Me"  critically  examined 
in  detail,  etc.,  406,  et  seq.;  in 
structive  observations  of,  re 
suggestion  in  art,  418;  disre 
gards  the  principle,  419;  re 
marks  of,  re  origin  of  "The  Girl 
I  Left  Behind  Me,"  420,  et  seq.; 
relations  of,  with  C.  Frohman, 
421;  important  letter  to,  from 
C.  Frohman,  422;  his  "dreams" 
— seeks,  and  gains,  the  co-opera 
tion  of  R.  M.  Hooley,  425;  ar 
rangement  with  Hooley  to  pro 
duce  "The  Heart  of  Maryland" 
— and  that  project  blocked  by 
sudden  death  of  Hooley — B. 
extruded  from  Chicago  in  favor 
of  Klaw  &  Erlanger,  427; 


adapts  "The  Younger  Son"  to 
assist  C.  Frohman  at  the  Em 
pire,  428;  comment  on  failure 
of,  430;  again  revises  "The 
Heart  of  Maryland"— and  in 
terjects  "local  color,"  431;  sig 
nificant  comment  by,  re  difficulty 
in  producing  "The  Heart  of 
Maryland,"  432,  et  seq.;  author's 
endorsement  of  his  views  there 
on — and  B.'s  desperate  straits, 
433;  Palmer  accepts  "The  Heart 
of  Maryland,"  434;  same  is  un 
able  to  fulfil  contract  and  pro 
duce — B.  again  defeated,  435; 
reminiscence  of  final  efforts  to 
bring  out  "The  Heart  of  Mary 
land,"  436,  et  seq.;  at  last 
produces  that  play — the  turning- 
point  in  his  career,  437;  com 
ment  on  his  experience  in  busi 
ness  dealings,  438;  his  "The 
Heart  of  Maryland"  critically 
examined  in  detail,  438,  et  seq.; 
his  speech  on  first  night  of  that 
play  in  N.  Y.,  445;  success  at 
last — trial  of  his  suit  against 
Fairbank — revises  "Under  the 
Polar  Star"— visits  S.  F.— and 
buys  "The  First  Born,"  447;  his 
beautiful  presentment  of  that 
play  in  N.  Y.,  449;  450;  with  C. 
Frohman  presents  "The  First 
Born"  in  London,  451 ;  sails  for 
England — and  with  same  pre 
sents  "The  Heart  of  Maryland" 
in  London,  452,  et  seq.;  news 
paper  injustice  to,  re  that  play 
of  his  and  "Secret  Service,"  453, 
et  seq.;  quest  of  a  new  play— r 
and  reads  about  "Zaza,"  454; 
sees  that  play — and  arranges  with 
C.  Frohman  to  buy  and  produce 
— returns  to  Am.,  455;  author's 
strictures  on  his  play  of  "Zaza" 
and  production  of  same  by,  456; 
compassionate  nature  of — and 
his  moral  attitude  more  emo 
tional  than  rational,  459,  et  seq.; 
first  production  of  "Zaza" — and 
same  in  N.  Y.,  461;  success  of 
Mrs.  Carter  is  due  to,  465; 
death  of  his  mother — strange  ex 
perience  of,  at  time — and  views 


INDEX 


505 


of,  on  spiritualism,  466,  et  seq.; 
filial  affections  of — and  reminis 
cence  of  his  mother — and  sig 
nificant  letter  from,  468,  et  seq.; 
serious  purpose  of,  in  "Naughty 
Anthony,"  475;  his  comment  on 
failure  of  same,  and  causes 
thereof,  476;  reads  story  of 
"Madame  Butterfly" — and  writes 
a  tragedy  based  on — same  criti 
cally  considered  in  detail,  477,  et 
seq.;  produces  that  tragedy — 
and  success  thereof,  482;  pre 
sents  "Zaza"  in  London — and 
disgust  of  Fr.  authors  thereof, 
484;  B.'s  amusing  reminiscence 
of  same,  485,  et  seq.;  takes 
"Madame  Butterfly"  to  Eng., 
486;  with  C.  Frohman  presents 
same  in  London — and  achieves 
memorable  success  with,  487; 
great  tribute  of  audience  to,  at 
first  Eng.  presentation  of  "Ma 
dame  Butterfly,"  488,  et  seq.; 
gives  operatic  rights  of,  to  Puc 
cini,  489;  lends  scene  models  for 
operatic  production  of,  490; 
meets  Lady  V.  S.  Meux — and  is 
invited  to  abandon  Mrs.  Car 
ter's  direction  and  assume  that 
of  Mrs.  J.  B.  Potter,  492;  his 
desire  to  conduct  a  London  the 
atre — Lady  Meux  offers  to  build 
one  for  him — he  declines  both 
her  proposals — and  comment 
thereon,  493. 

Belasco,  Mrs.  David  (Cecilia  Love- 
rich)  :  first  meeting  with  B.,  44; 
marriage  of,  45. 

Belasco,  Frederick  (1862-19—) : 
birth  of,  3;  447. 

BELASCO,  HUMPHREY  ABRAHAM  (fa 
ther  of  D.  B.:  1830-1911):  na 
tionality  of — and  birth,  1;  goes 
with  wife  to  Calif.— thence  to 
Victoria,  2;  traces  runaway  son 
— affiliations  of,  with  actors,  6; 
removes  family  from  Victoria, 
10;  removes  family  to  S.  F.,  15. 

BELASCO,  MRS.  HUMPHREY  ABRA 
HAM  (Reina  Martin,  mother  of 
D.  B.:  1830-1899):  nativity  of— 
and  birth,  1;  goes  with  husband 
to  S,  F,— birth  of  first  child- 


goes  to  Victoria,  2;  children  of, 
born  in  Victoria,  3;  her  early 
name  for  B. — and  opinion  about, 
21;  death  of — and  B.'s  strange 
experience  at  time  of,  466,  et 
seq. 

Belasco,  Israel  (1861 ):  birth, 

3. 

Belasco,  Walter  (1864-19—) : 
birth,  3. 

"Belle  Lemar"   (melod.):  439. 

BELLE  RUSSE,"  "LA  (melod.):  ob 
ject  of  B.  in  writing,  230;  story 
of,  231,  et  seq.;  produced — and 
success  of,  236;  original  cast  of, 
237;  B.  takes  to  N.  Y.,  241;  de 
sired  by  various  managers,  241 ; 
sold  outright — and  produced  in 
N.  Y.,  243;  B.  Howard's  opinion 
of,  etc.,  244;  246;  268;  298;  432. 

Bellew  (Higgin),  Harold  Kyrle 
(Eng.- Am.  actor:  1845-1911): 
298;  admirable  performance  of, 
as  Challoner,  303. 

Bellows,  Charles:  349. 

Bells,"  "The  (melod.):  168;  170; 
172;  247. 

Bells,"  "The  (poem):  43. 

Belot,  Adolph  (Fr.  novelist  and 
dramatist:  1829-1890):  238. 

"Ben  Battle"   (poem):  43. 

Bennett,  Amy  (Am.  actress):  B. 
revises  and  directs  revival  of 
"The  Enchantress"  for,  72. 

Bennett,  Julia  (Mrs.  Jacob  Bar 
row:  1824-18—) :  153. 

Bergere,  Valerie  (Am.  actress) : 
491;  492. 

"Bernardino  del  Carpio"  (poem): 
11;  20;  44. 

Bert,  Frederick  W.  (Am.  th.  agent 
and  man.) :  91. 

Berton,  Pierre  (Fr.  journalist  and 
playwright:  1840-1912):  456; 
484;  485;  486. 

Bernhardt,  Sarah  (Sarah  Frances 
— Mme.  Jacques  Damala:  Fr. 
actress,  sculptor,  and  th.  man.: 
184[4?]-19— ):  151. 

Big  Bonanza,"  "The  (play):  pro 
duced  in  N.  Y.,  80;  82. 

Billings,  Arthur  D.  (Am.  actor: 

18 1882):  46;  47;  62;  87}  bft. 

to,  100. 


506 


INDEX 


Bishop,  Charles  B.  (Am.  actor, 
and  M.D.:  18 1889):  105. 

Black  Hand;  or,  The  Lost  Will," 
"The  (melod.):  B.  acts  in,  86. 

Blaine,  Mrs.  James  G.,  Jr.  (Mary 
Nevin):  340. 

Blake,  William  Rufus  (Am.  actor: 
1805-1863):  157. 

"Bleak  House"  (dramatization  of)  : 
Mme.  Janauschek  in — and  B. 
makes  version  of,  84. 

Bleiman,  Max:  436;  437;  447. 

Blinn,  Holbrook  (Am.  actor:  1872- 
19—):  11. 

Boker,  George  Henry  (Am.  poet 
and  dramatist:  1823-1890):  9. 

BOOTH,  EDWIN  THOMAS  (Am.  actor 
and  th.  man.:  1833-1893):  early 
S.  F.  "hit"  by,  in  mimicry,  38; 
returns  to  S.  F. — and  B.  meets, 
93;  repertory  of,  at  Calif.  Th.— 
and  B.  appears  with,  94;  B.'s 
recollections  of — and  relics  of, 
95,  et  seq.;  132;  151;  168;  170; 
171;  273. 

Booth,  Junius  Brutus,  Sr.  (Eng.- 
Am.  tragedian:  1796-1852):  as 
King  Lear,  32. 

Booth,  Junius  Brutus,  Jr.  (Am. 
actor  and  th.  man.:  1821-1883): 
131. 

Booth's  Theatre,  N.  Y.:  "Daddy 
O'Dowd"  first  produced  at,  58. 

Boston  Museum:  8. 

Boucheron,  Maxime  (Fr.  libret 
tist)  :  397. 

BOUCICAULT,  Diox  (Dionysius  Lard- 
ner  Boucicault  [originally  Bour- 
cicault] :  Irish- Am.  dramatist, 
actor,  and  th.  man.:  182 [2?]- 
1890):  first  meeting  of,  with 
B. — confusion  regarding — pro 
found  influence  of,  on  B. — his 
"Led  Astray" — B.'s  reminiscence 
of,  etc.,  52,  et  seq.;  54;  and 
Mrs.  (Agnes  Robertson)  return 
to  Am.  and  appear  in  "Arrah- 
na-Pogue" — tour  by — many  proj 
ects  of — first  appearance  of,  as 
Daddy  O'Dowd,  58;  at  first  Am. 
appearance  of  T.  Salvini — au 
thor  on  first  production  of  his 
"Led  Astray,"  59;  author  on 
methods  of — first  appearance  of, 


in  S.  F.,  60;  69;  106;  effect  of, 
on  B.,  160;  165;  169;  173;  174; 
imitates  Jefferson's  Rip,  175; 
255;  276;  293;  294;  designations 
of  dramatic  forms  by,  377;  412; 
419;  439. 

"Boucicault  in  California"  (enter 
tainment) :  60. 

Bowers,  Mrs.  David  P.  (Elizabeth 

Crocker — Mrs.  Brown — 

Mrs.  James  C.  McCollom:  1830- 
1895):  51;  B.  acts  with— and  his 
regard  for,  52;  133;  136. 

Bowery  Theatre,  N.  Y.  (old): 
Julia  Dean  makes  first  N.  Y.  ap 
pearance  at,  8. 

"Box  and  Cox"  (farce) :  372. 

Boyesen,  Hjalmar  Hjorth:  279. 

Bozenta,  Charles  (Charles  [Ka- 
rol]  Bozenta  Chlapowski:  Polish- 
Am,  journalist  and  th.  man.: 
1838-1914) :  310. 

Bradley,  A.  D.  (Am.  stage  man. 
and  actor):  230. 

Brady,  William  A.  (Am.  th.  man.: 
1865-19—):  446;  451. 

"Brass"  (play) :  92. 

Bridge  of  Sighs,"  "The  (poem)  : 
43. 

Broadway  Theatre,  N.  Y.  (old): 
Julia  Dean  at,  8;  9. 

Brooke,  Gustavus  Vaughan  (Irish 
actor:  1819-1867):  131. 

Brooks,  Joseph  (Am.  th.  agent  and 
man.:  1849-1916):  196;  251;  438. 

Brougham,  John  (Irish- Am.  actor, 
dramatist,  and  th.  man.:  1810- 
1880) :  his  designation  of  Lotta, 
27;  43;  132;  177. 

Brown,  Henry  (Am.  actor  and 
stage  man.):  104;  115. 

Bruce,"  "The   (poem):  43. 

Buchanan,  McKean  (Am.  actor 
and  th.  man.:  1823-1872):  131. 

Buckland,  Wilfred  (Am.  th.  de 
signer):  349. 

Buckley,  Edward  J.  (Am.  actor: 

18 18—):  87;  89;  bft,  92; 

135. 

Buckley  (Uhl),  May  (Am.  actress: 
1875-19—):  449. 

Buckley,  Mrs.  Edward  J.:  135. 

Bulletin,"  "The  San  Francisco 
Evening  (newspaper) :  on  B.'s 


INDEX 


507 


"Not  Guilty,"  110;  on  acting  of 

Daly's  Co.,  159. 

Bullock,    William    (Am.    journal 
ist)  :  357. 
Burgess,   Neil    (Am.   actor:   1846- 

1910):  375. 
Burke,  Charles  St.  Thomas    (Am. 

actor:  1822-1854):  172;  173;  341. 
Burnett,    Mrs.    Frances    Hodgson 

(Frances  Eliza  Hodgson)    (Am. 

novelist    and    playwright:    1849- 

19—) :  317. 

Burr, (school  teacher) :  4. 

Burroughs,    Claude     (Am.    actor: 

18 1876)  :  — . 

Burroughs,  W.  F.:  135. 

Burt,  Frederick  W.  (Am.  th.  agent 

and  man.):  207. 
Burton,     William     Evans     (Eng.- 

Am.   actor  and  th.  man.:   1804- 

1860) :  158. 
Bush  Street  Theatre,  S.  F.:  B.  acts 

at,  with  O.  D.  Byron,  104. 
Bustle  Among  the  Petticoats,"  "A 

(farce) :  375. 
Byron,  George  Gordon,  sixth  Lord 

(the  poet:  1788-1824):  120;  412. 
Byron,  Henry  James  (Eng.  dram 
atist,  actor,  and  th.  man.:  1835- 

1884):  36;  106;  220;  343. 
Byron,  Oliver  Doud    (Am.  actor: 

1842-19—):  B.  acts  with,  in  S. 


"Cain"  (poem— Byron's)  :  120. 

Caldwell,  W.  (actor):  135. 

California  (State  of):  "gold 
fever"  in,  2. 

California  Theatre,  S.  F.:  Bouci- 
cault's  first  Calif,  appearance 
made  at,  60;  A.  Neilson's  first 
Calif,  appearance  made  at,  63; 
L.  Barrett  at,  in  "K.  Henry  V.," 
91;  opened — and  dramatic  co. 
there,  135;  eng.  of  L.  Wallack 
at,  180. 

Call,"  "The  San  Francisco  (news 
paper) :  103. 

"Called  Back"  (melod.):  290; 
291,  et  seq.;  293;  294. 

Calender's   Negro   Minstrels:  255. 

Calvert,  Charles   (Eng,  actor  and 


th.  man.:  1828-1879):  90;  trains 
G.  Rignold,  91;  his  revival  of 
"K.  Henry  V.,"  92. 

"Camilla's  Husband"   (play):  179. 

"Camille"  (play) :  458. 

Campbell,  Bartley  (Am.  dramatist: 
1844-1888):  80;  version  of  "Ulti 
mo"  by,  81;  221;  348. 

Carey,  Eleanor  (Am.  actress): 
first  appearance  of,  in  S.  F. — and 
B.  meets,  92;  reopens  Grand  O. 
H.,  S.  F.,  97;  B.  makes  play  for, 
on  "Article  47,"  93. 

"Carlotta!  Queen  of  the  Arena" 
(play) :  72. 

Carlyle,  Thomas  (the  historian: 
1795-1881):  456. 

"Carmen"  (opera) :  111. 

Carr,  Mary  (actress) :  153. 

CARTER,  MRS.  LESLIE  (Caroline 
Louise  Dudley— Mrs.  William 
Louis  Payne:  Am.  actress: 
186[4?]-19— ):  association  of, 
with  B. — and  biographical  par 
ticulars  concerning,  361,  et 
seq.;  divorced,  362;  first  meets 
B. — crude  aspirations  of,  362; 
follows  B.  to  Echo  Lake — and 
impresses  him  with  talent,  363; 
B.  determines  to  train,  364;  366; 
antagonism  toward,  368;  369; 
370;  371;  B.'s  training  of,  372, 
et  seq.;  play  for,  sought  by  B., 
383;  "backing"  obtained  for— 
and  first  appearance  of,  on  stage, 
385;  386;  comment  on  her  per 
formance  of  Kate  Or  ay  don — 
difficulties  in  managing,  387; 
first  tour  of,  ended,  388;  389; 
fiction  re  B.'s  method  of  train 
ing — letter  of,  acknowledging 
her  debt  to  B.,  390,  et  seq.;  her 
recollection  of  a  dark  period, 
392;  thinks  of  becoming  a 
"beauty  doctor" — managerial  an 
tipathy  toward,  393,  et  seq.; 
394;  goes  to  Paris  to  see  farce, 
396;  421;  422;  425;  B.  arranges 
to  bring  her  out  in  Chicago, 
426;  427;  431;  433;  434;  as 
Maryland  Calvert,  444;  446; 
sails  for  Eng.,  452;  454;  sails 
for  Am.,  455;  472;  acts  Zaza  in 
London,  484;  485;  B.  invited  to 


508 


INDEX 


give  up  direction  of,  492;  he  re 
fuses  same,  493. 

"Caryswold"  (melod.):  257. 

Cat  and  the  Cherub,"  "The 
(play) :  451. 

Cathcart,  Fanny  (Mrs.  Geo.  Dar- 
rell:  actress) :  B.  acts  with,  and 
G.  Darrell,  49. 

Cathcart,  James  F.  (Eng.-Aus'n. 
actor:  1829-1903):  87;  133. 

"Caught  in  a  Corner"  (play):  re 
written  by  B.,  295. 

Cayvan,  Georgia  (Am.  actress: 
1858-1906):  first  distinctive  suc 
cess  of,  285;  as  B.'s  May  Blos 
som,  328;  hostile  to  Mrs.  L.  Car 
ter,  328;  369. 

Celebrated  Case,"  "A  (play) :  105. 

Chanfrau,  Francis  [usually  Frank] 
S.  (Am.  actor  and  th.  man.: 
1824-1884):  133;  168. 

Chapman,  Edith:  349. 

Chapman,  Logan   (actor) :  261. 

Chapman,  William  B.  (actor) :  173. 

Chapman  Sisters,  Ella  and 
Blanche  (Am.  burlesque  ac 
tresses):  35;  36;  37;  B.  travels 
with,  46. 

Charge  of  the  Light  Brigade," 
"The  (poem) :  43. 

CHARITY  BALL,"  "THE  (domestic 
drama) :  high  rank  of,  357;  story 
of,  358,  et  seq,;  production- 
performance — and  cast  of,  360; 
432. 

Charke,  Charlotte  (Charlotte 
Cibber— Mrs.  Richard  Charke: 
Eng.  actress:  died,  1760):  40. 

"Charles  O'Malley"  (dramatiza 
tion  of):  S.  Cowell  acts  in,  71; 
72. 

"Childe  Harold"  (poem) :  412. 

Children  of  the  Ghetto,"  "The 
(novel):  stage  synopsis  of — a 
failure,  473. 

Chippendale,  William  H.  (actor 
and  th.  man.:  1802-1888):  153. 

"Chispa"  (play):  247;  254. 

CHRISTMAS  NIGHT;  OR,  THE  CON 
VICT'S  RETURN,"  "THE  (play)  :  98. 

Chronicle,"  "The  San  Francisco 
(newspaper):  248. 

"CHUMS"  (play):  188— and  see 
"Hearts  of  Oak." 


Cibber,  Colley  (Eng.  actor,  dram 
atist,  th.  man.,  etc.:  1671-1757): 
87;  137. 

"Cinderella"  (burlesque):  46. 

Clandestine  Marriage,"  "The 
(comedy):  160. 

Clarke  (O'Neill),  George  (Irish- 
Am,  actor:  1840-1906):  299. 

Clarke,  John  Sleeper  (Am.-Eng. 
actor  and  th.  man.:  1833-1899): 
295. 

Claxton,  Kate  (Mrs.  Charles  A. 

Stevenson)  (Am.  actress:  18 

19—) :  229. 

Clemens,  Samuel  Langhorne  (Mark 
Twain:  Am.  author:  1835-1910): 
Densmore's  ver.  of  his  "The 
Gilded  Age" — letter  about  same 
from,  to  Howells,  quoted,  65; 
Raymond's  letter  about  his  "The 
Golden  Age,"  66;  play  suggested 
to,  by  Elsie  Leslie,  365;  366. 

Coggswell,  William  J.  (actor) :  69. 

Coghlan,  Charles  Francis  (Eng.- 
Am.  actor,  th.  man.,  and  dram 
atist:  1842-1899):  133;  177. 

Coghlan,  Rose  (Mrs.  John  A.  Sul 
livan:  Eng.- Am.  actress:  1852- 
19 — )  :  133 ;  comes  to  Am. — and 
first  appearance  there — engaged 
by  Maguire  at  B.'s  request,  177; 
attitude  of,  toward  B.,  178;  they 
become  friends — first  appearance 
of,  in  S.  F. — play  written  for, 
by  B.,  179;  she  appears  in  same, 
180;  183;  184;  experience  of,  in 
rehearsing  "L'Assommoir,"  187; 
ends  S.  F.  engagement,  188; 
237;  246. 

Colleen  Bawn,"  "The  (drama) :  36. 

Collins,  John    (actor):   132. 

Collins,  William  Wilkie  (Eng. 
novelist  and  dramatist:  1824- 
1889):  46;  his  "The  New  Mag 
dalen"  dramatized  and  produced 
— comment  thereon  by,  47;  92; 
231. 

Colton,  "Harry"  (actor):  261. 

Colville,  Samuel  (Am.  th.  man.: 
1825-1886):  131;  246. 

Comedy  of  Error,"  "The:  137. 

Congreve,  William  (Eng.  drama 
tist:  1670-1729):  302;  330. 

Conjugal  Lesson,"  "A  (farce) :  80. 


INDEX 


509 


Cooke,  T.  P.:  220. 

Cooper,  James:  marriage  of,  and 
J.  Dean,  10. 

CORCORAN,  KATHERINE  (Mrs.  James 
A.  Herne:  Am.  actress:  185 [8?]- 
19—):  180;  meeting  of,  and 
Herne,  181 ;  appears  in  "Chums," 
190;  advises  B.  and  her  husband 
to  go  East,  191;  first  appear 
ance  in  Chicago,  193;  perform 
ance  of,  in  "Hearts  of  Oak," 
204. 

"Coriolanus":  137. 

Corrigan,  Emmett  (Am.  actor) : 
416. 

Corsican  Brothers,"  "The  (melod.)  : 
scene  in,  estimated,  128. 

Couldock,  Charles  Walter  (Eng.- 
Am.  actor:  1815-1896):  254;  273. 

County  Fair,"  "The  (melod.) :  375. 

Courtaine,  Henry  (Am.  actor)  :  36. 

Courtaine,  Mrs.  Henry  (Am.  ac 
tress)  :  104. 

Coweli,  Sydney  (Mrs.  George  Gid- 
dens:  Eng.-Am.  actress):  62. 

Crane,  William  Henry  (Am.  actor 
and  th.  man.:  1845-19—):  87; 
133. 

Crazy  Horse   (Indian  chief) :  404. 

"Creatures  of  Impulse"  (play)  :  69. 

Creole,"  "The  (B.'s  version  of 
"Article  47"):  93. 

Criticism,  dramatic:  incompetence, 
the  evil  of,  155,  et  seq.;  folly  of 
much  of  contemporaneous,  151. 

Cre-ly,  Vida  (Am.  actress)  :  355. 

Crook,  General  George,  U.  S.  A., 
1828-1890) :  420. 

Crook,  Mrs.  George:  relates  inter 
esting  reminiscence  to  B.,  420, 
et  seq. 

Crow,  "Jim"  (negro  slave):  38. 

"Cupid's  Lawsuit"  (farce):  176. 

"Curfew  Must  Not  Ring  To- 
Night"  (poem):  11;  44;  442. 

CUBSE  OF  CAIN,"  "THE  (melod.): 
248;  story,  249,  et  seq.;  cast  of, 
252. 

Curtis,  Maurice  Bertram  (Mau 
rice  Bertram  Strelinger:  Am. 
actor:  18 ):  104;  295. 

Custer,  General  George  Armstrong 
(1839-1876) :  404. 

"Cymbeline":  137. 


"Dakolar"  (melod.):  296;  311. 

DALY,  AUGUSTIN  (Am.  journalist, 
th.  man.,  dramatist,  and  stage 
man.:  1838-1899):  56;  70;  pro 
" 


duction 
nanza, 


of   his    "The    Big    Bo 
"  80;  the  same,  forestalled 


in  S.  F.,  82;  not  to  be  excluded 
from  S.  F.,  83;  92;  127;  begins 
management—  his  co.  in  S.  F., 
158;  acting  of  same  described, 
159;  180;  "Life"  of,  by  his 
brother  —  and  opinion  of,  re 
"L'Assommoir,"  184  ;  produces 
revision  of  same,  185;  228;  306; 
392;  fails  with  "Heart  of  Ruby," 
482. 

Daly,  Hon.  Joseph  Francis  (Judge 
—  N.  Y.:  1840-1916):  184. 

Danicheffs,"  "The  (melod.)  :  179. 

Danites,"  "The  (play):  105. 

"Dark  Deeds"   (melod.):  49. 

"Darling"   (melod.):  36. 

DARLING  OF  THE  GODS,"  "THE 
(tragedy):  162;  470;  477. 

Darrell,  George  (Australian  actor 
and  th.  man.):  49;  229. 

Daughter  of  the  Nile,"  "A  (play)  : 
227. 

Dauvray,  Helen  (Am.  actress  and 
th.  man.):  312;  337. 

Davenport,  Edward  Loomis  (Am. 
actor  and  th.  man.:  1815-1877): 
72;  153;  197. 

Davenport,  Louise  (Mrs.  William 
E.  Sheridan:  actress):  225. 

"David  Copperfield"  (novel):  B. 
makes  dramatization  of,  84. 

Davis,    Phoebe    (Mrs.    Joseph    R. 

Grismer:  Am.  actress:  1864- 
_  \  .  254, 

Davis,  "Relli'e"    (actress):  261. 

Dawn  of  Freedom,"  "The  (melod.)  : 
B.  in,  86. 

DEAN,  JULIA  (Hayne)  (Mrs.  Ar 
thur  Hayne  —  Mrs.  James  Cooper: 
Am.  actress  and  th.  man.:  1830- 
1868):  B.  in  childhood,  appears 
with  —  and  sketch  of,  7,  et  seq.; 
132;  164. 

"Dearer  than  Life"  (melod.)  :  106. 

De  Bar,  Benedict  (Eng.-Am.  actor 
and  th.  man.:  1814-1877):  133. 


510 


INDEX 


de  Belleville,  Frederic  (Belgian- 
Am,  actor:  1857-19—):  382. 

"Deborah"   (melod.):  103. 

"Delmar's  Daughter"  (play):  279. 

DE  MILLE,  HENRY  CHURCHILL 
(Am.  playwright:  1850-1893): 
313;  326;  becomes  collaborator 
with  B.,  327,  et  seq.;  336;  337; 
340;  343;  356;  373;  377;  378; 
380;  383. 

Denin,  Kate  (Mrs.  John  Wilson: 
Am.  actress:  1837-1907):  acts 
with  B.  and  Thorn,  Sr.,  86; 
132. 

"Denise"  (melod.) :  458. 

Densmore,  Gilbert  S.  (Am.  jour 
nalist):  his  version  of  "The 
Gilded  Age"— and  B.'s  recollec 
tion  of,  64;  Clemens  on  same, 
65;  Raymond  on,  66. 

Detraction:  of  eminent  persons, 
author  on,  129,  et  seq. 

Dickens,  Charles,  Sr.  (the  novel 
ist  and  dramatist:  1812-1870): 
43. 

Dickson,  James  B.  (Am.  th.  man. 
and  actor):  196;  251. 

Dillon,  John   (actor):  261. 

Dillon,  Louise   (actress):  355. 

"Diplomacy"  (play):  189,  237; 
299. 

Dithman,  Edward  Augustus  (Am. 
journalist:  1854-1917):  245. 

Dittenhoefer,  Hon.  Abram  Jesse 
(Am.  lawyer:  1836-19—):  389. 

"Divorce"  (play) :  revived  in  S.  F., 
70;  B.  on  same,  181. 

Dockstader's  Minstrels:  375. 

DOLL  MASTER,"  "THE  (melod.): 
418. 

"Dombey  &  Son"  (novel):  B. 
makes  dramatization  of,  84. 

"Don  Caesar  de  Bazan"  (play): 
69;  87. 

Don,  Laura  (Anna  Laura  Fish- 
Mrs.  Thomas  B.  McDonough — 
Mrs.  George  W.  Fox:  Am.  ac 
tress:  died,  1886):  224;  B.'s  rec 
ollection  of,  225,  et  seq. 

"Donna  Diana;  or,  Love's  Masque" 
(play) :  51. 

Donnelly,  see  Murphy,  Joseph. 

"Dora"  (play):  adapted  and  di 
rected  by  B.,  84. 


Dorr,  Dorothy  (Mrs.  H.  J.  W. 
Dam:  Am.  actress:  1867-19—): 
349. 

Douglas,  Mrs.  Belle  (actress) :  87. 

Doyle,  W.  F.   (actor):  261. 

Drake,  Samuel  (Eng.  actor:  1872- 
1847):  grandfather  of  Julia 
Dean,  8. 

Drake,  Julia  (Mrs.  Thomas  Fos- 
dick — Mrs.  Edmund  Dean — Mrs. 
Samuel  Drake:  Eng.-Am.  ac 
tress):  8. 

Drew,  Mrs.  John  (Louisa  Lane- 
Mrs.  Henry  Hunt— Mrs.  George 
Mossop:  Eng.-Am.  actress  and 
th.  man.:  1820-1897):  206;  207. 

"Drifting  Apart"  (play):  198;  199. 

Dudley,  Mrs.  Caroline:  392. 

Dudley,  W.  C.  (Am.  actor) :  35. 

Duff,  John  (Am.  speculative  th. 
man.:  18 1889):  184. 

Dunbar,  James:  50. 

Dunn,  John  (Am.  actor) :  131. 

Dunning,  Alice  (Mrs.  William 
Horace  Lingard:  Eng.-Am.  ac 
tress:  18 1897):  133. 

Duret,  Marie  ("The  Limpet"— ac 
tress):  131. 


"Easiest  Way,"  "The   (play):  456. 
"East  Lynne"    (play):  7;  52;  79; 

261. 
Eaves,  Albert  G.   (th.  costumer) : 

375. 
Eberle,    Robert    (Am.    actor    and 

stage  man.) :  217. 
Eddy,  Edward  (Am.  actor:  1822- 

1875):  193. 
"Editha's    Burglar"    (play):    317; 

318;  365. 

Edmonds,  Charles   (actor) :  47. 
Edmonds,  Mrs.  Charles  (actress): 

48. 
Edouin,     "Willie"     (Eng.     actor: 

1845-1908):  135. 
Edwards,  Charles    (actor):  69. 
Edwards,  Henry  (Am.  actor,  stage 

man.,      and      naturalist:      1824- 

1891):  36;  135,  et  seq.;  acts  An 
tony,  166;  298. 
Edwards,    R.    M.     (play    agent): 

early  friend  of  B.,  39. 


INDEX 


511 


Egyptian  Hall,  S.  F.:  98;  99; 
100. 

EGYPTIAN  MYSTERY,"  "THE  (illu 
sion,  etc.):  B.  associated  with — 
and  described  by  B.,  97,  et  seq. 

"Electra"  (tragedy— of  Sopho 
cles)  :  revival  of,  under  B.'s  di 
rection,  353,  et  seq. 

Ellsler,  Effie    (Am.   actress):  254. 

Emanuel  the  First,  King  of  Portu 
gal  (1495-1521):  1. 

Emery,  Samuel  (Eng.  actor:  1818- 
1881):  153. 

Emily,  "Virgie"  (actress):  261. 

Emmet,  J.  K.  (Am.  actor:  1841- 
1891:  B.  works  for — and  acts 
with,  82;  168;  192. 

Emma,  Queen  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands:  recitation  of  B.  and 
others  before,  15. 

Empire  Theatre,  N.  Y.:  origin  of, 
400,  et  seq.;  opened  with  "The 
Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me,"  405. 

Enchantress,"  "The  (musical  play)  : 
revised  and  directed  by  B.,  72. 

"Enoch  Arden"  (play— on  the 
poem):  202. 

£te  de  St.  Martin,"  "L'  (comedy) : 
450. 

Ethel,  Agnes  (Mrs.  Francis  W. 

Tracy — Mrs.  Rondebush : 

Am.  actress:  1853-1908):  299. 

Eustace,   "Jennie"    (actress):   349. 

Evans,  Charles  (Am.  th.  man.): 
436 •  492. 

Eviction,"  "The  (melod.):  227. 

Ewer,  Rev.  Ferdinand  Cartwright 
(1820-1883) :  funeral  sermon  of 
Julia  Dean  preached  by,  etc., 
10. 

Eytinge,  Rose  (Mrs.  David  Barnes 
—Mrs.  George  H.  Butler— Mrs. 
Cyril  Searle:  Am.  actress:  1835- 
1911):  53. 

Eyre,  Gerald  (actor):  235;  237; 
298. 


F 


Fairbank,  N.  K.  (capitalist): 
agrees  to  "back"  B.  and  Mrs. 
Carter,  385;  withdraws  support 
and  repudiates  obligations,  re 
Mrs.  Carter's  tour— sued  by  B., 


389;  defeated  by  B.,  300;  B.'s 
kindly  feeling  toward — and  ad 
mits  he  was  "badly  advised," 
391;  446. 

"Fairfax"   (play):  221. 

Falconer,  Edmund  (Eng.  dram.: 
1815-1879):  28. 

Fall  of  Tarquin,"  "The  (tragedy) : 
94. 

Famille  Benoiton!"  "La  (farce): 
adapted  by  B.,  125. 

Fast  Family,"  "A  (farce — same  as 
preceding) :  125. 

"Faust"    (play):  98;  249. 

"Faustus"  (spectacle) :  B.  in,  86. 

Fawcett,  George  (Am.  actor: 
1860-19—)  :  349. 

"Fazio"  (tragedy):  9;   160. 

"Featherbrain"   (play):  336. 

Fechter,  Charles  Albert:  French 
actor  and  th.  man.:  1824-1879): 
Stuart's  Park  Th.  opened  with 
performance  by,  59;  69. 

"Fedora"  (melod.):  292. 

"Fernande"  (comedy):  299. 

"Ferre^l"  (play) :  355. 

"Festus"  (poem) :  249. 

Feuillet,  Octave  (Fr.  dramatist: 
1821-1890):  24;  53;  59;  63. 

Field,  Edward  Captain:  227. 

Fifth  Avenue  Theatre,  N.  Y.:  the 
second,  "The  Big  Bonanza,"  pro 
duced  at,  80. 

Figaro,"  "The  San  Francisco  (th. 
news  sheet) :  early  notice  of  B. 
in,  28 ;  commendation  of  same  in, 
37. 

Fire-Fly  Social  and  Dramatic 
Club,"  "The,  of  S.  F.:  B.'s  as 
sociation  with,  28. 

First  Born,"  "The  (tragedy):  B. 
buys — and  in  association  with  C. 
Frohman,  produces  in  N.  Y., 
447;  story  of,  448,  et  seq.;  cast, 
450;  produced  in  London — fore 
stalled  there,  and  failure  of, 
451. 

Fischer,  Alice  (Mrs.  William  Har- 
court  [King]:  Am.  actress: 
1869-19—) :  349. 

Fisher,  Charles  (actor:  1816-1891): 
204. 

Fisk,  James,  Jr.  (capitalist,  etc.): 
272. 


512 


INDEX 


Fiske,  Harrison  Grey  (Am.  jour 
nalist  and  th.  man.:  1867-19—): 
988;  289. 

"Flies  in  the  Web"  (farce):  474. 

Florence  (Conlin),  William  James 
(Irish- Am.  actor  and  th.  man.: 
1831-1891):  133;  a  delicate  art 
ist,  etc.,  158;  321. 

Florence  (Conlin),  Mrs.  William 
James  (Malvina  Pray — Mrs.  Jo 
seph  Littell— Mrs.  George  How 
ard  Coveny:  Am.  actress:  1831- 
1906):  133. 

Flynn,  Thomas  (actor:  17 1849): 

the  first  Rip  Van  Winkle, 
173. 

Fool's  Revenge,"  "The  (tragedy): 
86;  94;  222;  247. 

Foote,  Samuel  (En?,  actor  and 
mimic:  1720-1777):  38. 

"Forbidden  Fruit"  (play) :  57. 

Ford,  Harriet:  349. 

"Forget  Me  Not"  (play):  221;  231. 

Forrest,  Edwin  (Am.  actor:  1806- 
1872):  132;  134;  death  of,  as 
Hamlet,  150;  151. 

Fortesque  (Finney),  May  (Eng. 
actress) :  313. 

Forty  Thieves,"  "The  (burlesque): 
86. 

Francoeur,  Joseph  W.  (actor): 
252;  261. 

Franks,  Frederick  (actor) :  135. 

Franks,  Mrs.  Frederick  (actress): 
135. 

Frawley,  Timothy  Daniel  (Am.  ac 
tor  and  th.  man.:  18 19 — ): 

471;  472. 

Frayne,  Frank  I.  (Am.  actor  and 
th.  man.:  18 18—):  74;  104. 

Freedom  of  the  Press,"  "The 
(play):  B.  appears  in,  27. 

French,  Samuel  ('s  Standard 
Drama):  39. 

French  Spy,"  "The  (play):  70. 

FROHMAN,  CHARLES  (Am.  specu 
lative  th.  man.:  1860-1915): 
"Life"  of— B.  associated  with— 
and  B.'s  recollections  of,  269,  et 
*eq.;  292;  311;  proposal  of,  to 
B.— same  accepted— and  "Men 
and  Women"  written  for,  373, 
et  seq.;  383;  suggests  a  venture 
with  B.,  395;  buys  "Miss  Hel- 


yett"  on  B.'s  advice,  396;  "Life" 
of,  401;  relations  of,  with  B., 
421;  important  letter  from,  to 
B.,  422;  425;  B.  adapts  "The 
Younger  Son"  for,  428;  435; 
447;  with  B.,  presents  "The 
First  Born"  in  London,  451; 
with  same,  presents  "The  Heart 
of  Maryland"  in  London,  453; 
454;  arranges  with  B.  for  Am. 
presentation  of  Mrs.  Carter  in 
"Zaza,"  455;  with  B.  presents 
"Zaza"  in  London,  484;  487. 

FROHMAN,  DANIEL  (Am.  th.  man. 
and  moving  picture  operative: 
1853-19—):  254;  engages  B.  as 
stage  manager  of  Mad.  Sq.  Th., 
N.  Y.,  260;  271;  275;  312;  en 
gages  B.  as  stage  manager,  play 
wright,  etc.,  of  the  Lyceum  The 
atre,  N.  Y.,  313;  328;  329;  com 
missions  B.  to  write  a  second 
play  for  Lyceum,  312;  326;  336; 
340;  B.'s  bargain  with,  re  use 
of  a  stage  and  "The  Prince  and 
the  Pauper,"  366;  same  repudi 
ated,  368;  B.'s  resentment  of 
unfair  treatment  by — and  letter 
to,  369;  suggests  name  of  "The 
Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me"  for  B.'s 
play,  403. 

FHOHMAN,  GUSTAVE  (Am.  specu 
lative  th.  man.  and  agent: 
185  [1?] -19—  ):  associated  with 
B.,  254;  255;  260;  B.  leaves  S.  F. 
in  employment  of,  261;  269;  281; 
292. 

"Frou-Frou"   (play) :  80. 

Fyles,  Franklyn  (originally,  Frank 
lin  Files)  (Am.  journalist  and 
playwright:  1847-1911):  401; 
collaborates  with  B.  in  "The  Girl 
I  Left  Behind  Me,"  403;  405. 


Gaboriau,  Emile  (Fr.  novelist: 
1833-1873)  :  113. 

Galley  Slave,"  "The  (melod.):  221. 

Gambler's  Fate,"  "The  (melod.): 
346. 

Gamester,"  "The   (play):  88;  252. 

Gannon,  Mary  (Mrs.  George  Ste 
venson:  1829-1868):  153. 


INDEX 


513 


Gardner,  Frank  (th.  man,  and  cap 
italist):  B.  associated  with,  in 
"The  Egyptian  Mystery,"  etc., 
97,  et  seq. 

Garrick,  David  (Eng.  actor,  th. 
man.,  and  dramatist:  1716-1779): 
137;  151;  154. 

"Gaspardo;  or,  The  Three  Ban 
ished  Men  of  Milan"  (melod.): 
B.  in,  86. 

Gates,  Daniel  Virgil  (actor):  131. 

Gatti,  Messrs.  (Eng.  th.  man.): 
451. 

Gautier,  Mme.  Judith  (Fr.  dram 
atist) :  482. 

Genest,  Rev.  John  (Eng.  th.  his 
torian:  1764-1839):  163. 

Giddens,  George  (Eng.  actor: 
1845-19—)  :  62. 

Gilbert,  John  Gibbs  (Am.  actor: 
1810-1889):  153;  177;  298. 

Gilbert,  Sir  William  Schwenck,  kt. 
(Eng.  dramatist  and  poet:  1836- 
1911):  313. 

Gilded  Age,"  "The  (story):  Dens- 
more's  dramatization  of,  pro 
duced — and  B.  on,  64;  Clemens 
to  Howells  on,  quoted,  65,  et 
seq.;  Raymond's  letter  about — 
and  Twain's  version  of,  66,  et 
seq.;  author  on  worth  of — and 
Raymond's  performance  in,  67, 
et  seq.;  acted  in  N.  Y.,  68;  165. 

Gillette,  William  Hooker  (Am.  ac 
tor  and  playwright:  1855-19—): 
317;  337;  339;  356;  375;  387; 
439;  453. 

GIRL  I  LEFT  BEHIND  ME,"  "THE 
(melod.):  written,  403;  excel 
lence  of— story  of— and  critically 
considered  in  detail,  406,  et  seq.; 
produced — and  Empire  Th.,  N. 
Y.,  opened  with,  405;  success  of, 
415;  cast  of,  416;  417;  418;  419; 
origin  of,  420,  et  seq.;  421;  422; 
426;  427;  428;  432;  453. 

GIRL  OF  THE  GOLDEN  WEST,"  "THE 
(melod.) :  Puccini's  opera  on 
B.'s  play  of,  75;  Sawtell  en 
gaged  for,  85;  470. 

Gladstane,  Mary  (Am.  actress: 
1830-18 — )  :  B.'s  admiration  of 
— and  gives  prompt  book  to  B., 
79. 


Goethe,     Johann     Wolfgang     von 

(Ger.  poet:  1749-1832):  249. 
Gold   Demon,"   "The    (burlesque): 

B.  makes  hit  in,  37. 
Golden  Era,"  "The,  San  Francisco 

(newspaper) :  66. 
"Golden  Game"   (melod.):  221. 
Goldsmith,  Oliver  (the  poet,  novel 
ist,   and   dramatist:    1728-1774): 

106;  107;  478. 
Good,  Brent:  336. 
Goodwin,  Frank  L.  (th.  agent  and 

man.):  243. 
Gordon,  Marie  E.    (Mrs.  John  T. 

Raymond:  Am.  actress):  135. 
Grand  Opera  House,  S.  F.:  "The 

Passion     Play,"     produced     at, 

115. 
Granville,  Gertrude  (Am.  actress)  : 

74;  B.  acts  with,  104. 
Graves,    Converse     (stage    man.): 

375. 
Great       Divorce       Case,"       "The 

(melod.):  252. 
Great  Pink  Pearl,"  "The   (farce): 

317. 
Great  Republic,"  "The  (allegory) : 

27;  404. 

Great  Ruby,"  "The  (melod.):  472. 
Greene,  Clay  M.  (Am.  playwright: 

1850-19—):  247;  295;  310;  318; 

446. 

Greenwall,  Henry:  400. 
"Griffith  Gaunt"    (novel):   Mayo's 

dramatization  of — and  B.  makes 

version  of,  71. 

Grismer,  Joseph  Rhode   (Am.  ac 
tor,    playwright,    and    th.    man.: 

1849-19—) :  224. 
Grove,    Florence   Crawford    (Eng. 

playwright) :  231. 
Gunter,  Archibald  Clavering  (Am. 

novelist    and    playwright:    1848- 

1907):  311. 


H 


Haase,     Frederick     (Ger.     actor: 

1827-19—)  :  251 ;  252. 
Hackett,  James  Henry  (Am.  actor 

and  th.  man.:  1800-1871):  effect 

of  his  acting,  155;  173. 
Hager,  Professor :  B.  appears 

in  his  "Allegory,"  27;  404. 


514 


INDEX 


Haggard,  Henry  Rider  (Eng.  nov 
elist:  1856-19—):  337. 

Hale>y,  Ludovic  (Fr.  dramatist: 
1834-1908) :  450. 

"Hamlet":  43;  69;  88;  138;  154; 
247;  249;  252;  294. 

Hamlin,  John  (Am.  speculative  th. 
man.):  192;  193;  194. 

Happy  Pair,"  "A  (farce):  37; 
80;  177. 

Harcourt,  Charles  (Eng.  actor): 
acts  Paul  Zegers,  170;  171. 

"Hard  Cash"  (novel)  :  257. 

Hardie,  J.  H.  (Am.  actor) :  35. 

Harkins,  Major  Daniel  H.  (Am. 
soldier,  actor,  and  th.  man.: 
1835-1902) :  299. 

Harris,  Sir  Augustus  (Eng.  actor, 
th.  man.,  and  playwright:  1842- 
1896):  227. 

Harris,  William  (Am.  th.  man.: 
1845-1916):  400;  401. 

Harrison,  Alice  (Am.  actress: 
1852-1896) :  36. 

Harrison,  Mrs.  Burton  N.,  Sr.:  279. 

Haunted  House,"  "The  (melod.) : 
98. 

Haverley's  Minstrels:  260. 

Hawthorne,  Louise    (actress):  87. 

Hayes,  Sarah:  225. 

Hayman,  Al.  (Am.  speculative  th. 
man.  and  theatre  proprietor: 
18[52?]-1917):  307;  337;  400; 
loans  $1,500  on  $30,000  security, 
437. 

Hayne,  Arthur  (M.D.):  marriage 
of,  to  J.  Dean,  9. 

Hayne,  Robert  Young  (U.  S.  Sen 
ator:  1791-1839):  9. 

"Hazel  Kirke"  (melod.):  254;  258. 

HEART  OF  MARYLAND,"  "THE 
(melod.):  370;  writing  of,  392; 
difficulty  in  getting  it  produced, 
394;  401;  422;  423;  B.  arranges 
to  produce,  in  Chicago,  425 ;  426 ; 
play  "shelved"  by  death  of  R.  M. 
Hooley,  427;  laid  aside  by  B., 
431;  comment  by  B.  on  experi 
ence  with,  432;  accepted  by 
Palmer,  433;  preparations  to 
produce,  434;  Palmer  forced  to 
abandon — B.'s  reminiscence  of 
final  struggle  to  bring  out,  436, 
et  seq.;  produced  at  last,  437; 


story  of — and  critically  consid 
ered  in  detail,  438,  et  seq.;  cast 
of,  444;  first  tour  of,  446;  B. 
buys  out  partner's  interest  in — 
and  presents  in  S.  F.,  447;  B. 
and  C.  Frohman  arrange  to  pre 
sent,  in  London,  451;  profits 
from — and  third  season  of, 
ended,  452;  presented  in  London 
— success  of,  there  and  long  run 
of— re  mechanical  effects  in,  453, 
et  seq. 

Heart  of  Midlothian,"  "The  (nov 
el)  :  Boucicault's  dramatization 
of,  64. 

"Heart  of  Ruby"  (tragedy):  ex 
quisite  production  of,  by  Daly 
—and  a  failure,  482. 

"HEARTS  OF  OAK"  ("Chums"— 
play):  B.  projects,  188;  writes, 
with  Herne,  189;  produced — and 
fails,  190;  taken  "on  tour,"  191; 
192;  produced  in  Chicago — and 
succeeds,  193;  suit  about,  195; 
brought  to  N.  Y.,  196;  198;  au 
thor  at  first  N.  Y.  performance 
of — story  of,  etc.,  critically  con 
sidered  in  detail,  201,  et  seq.; 
B.'s  interest  in,  bought,  206,  et 
seq.;  209;  236;  268. 

Heine,  Heinrich  (the  poet:  1797- 
1856):  166. 

"Held  by  the  Enemy"  (melod.): 
439. 

"Help"  (melod.):  B.  acts  in,  34; 
35;  49. 

Hemans,  Felicia  Dorothea  (Eng. 
poet:  1793-1835):  11. 

Henderson,  Alexander  (Eng.  th. 
man.:  1829-1886):  167. 

Henderson,  David  (Am.  journalist 
and  th.  man.):  335. 

Henderson,  Grace  (Mrs.  David 
Henderson) :  beauty  and  talent 
of,  351 ;  360. 

Henley,  Edward  J.  (Eng.  actor: 
1862-1898):  427. 

Henrietta,"  "The  (comedy)  :  375. 

"Her   Atonement"    (melod.) :   348. 

HERNE,  JAMES  A[LFRED]  (James 
Ahearn:  Am.  actor,  playwright, 
and  stage  manager:  1839-1902): 
70;  acts  Rip  Van  Winkle — and 
Solon  Shingle,  71;  acts  Bam- 


INDEX 


515 


buno — and  Sikes — version  of 
"Charles  O>Malley"  by— and  in 
"The  Sphinx,"  72;  at  Baldwin's 

A.  of   M.,   87;   B.   on,   as   Rip, 
168;    as    Rip— and    inferior    to 
Jeiferson,   176;   with   B.,   writes 
play  for  R.  Coghlan,  179;  plan 
of,    to    go    East,    180;    meeting 
with   future  wife,   181;   bft.   to, 
and  B.,  182;  183;  with  B.,  writes 
"Chums,"    189;    191;    goes    East 
with  wife  and  B,,  191,  et  seq.; 
unjust  complaint  of,  to  B.,  195; 
birth— and  sketch  of  his  life,  197, 
et  seq.;  principal  plays  of,  198; 
share  of,  in  making  "Hearts  of 
Oak,"   199;    death   of,  201;  205; 
unjust  treatment  of  B.  by,  207; 
208. 

Heron,  Matilda  (Mrs.  Henry  Her 
bert  Byrne — Mrs.  Robert  Stoe- 
pel:  Am.  actress:  1830-1877): 
132;  151. 

Hidden  Hand,"  "The  (novel): 
B.'s  dramatization  of,  103. 

HIGHEST  BIDDER,"  "THE  (farcical 
comedy) :  B.  makes,  314,  et 
seq.;  cast  of,  316;  321;  325; 
432. 

Hill,  Charles  John  Barton  (Am. 
actor,  playwright,  th.  man.  and 
stage  man.:  1830-1911):  acts 
Mercutio  with  Neilson,  63;  em 
ploys  B.  at  Calif.  Th.,  69;  92; 
gives  trial  to  Modjeska,  101,  et 
seq.;  133;  218. 

Hill,  James  M.   (Am.  th.  man..) : 

B.  employed  to  write  play  for, 
etc.,  Ill,  et  seq.;  400. 

Hill,  Richard:  400. 

Hinckley,  George  (Am.  actor) : 
35;  62. 

Hinckley,  "Sallie"  (Am.  actress): 
35;  in  "The  New  Magdalen,"  69; 
74;  133. 

Hoey,  Mrs.  John  (Am.  actress): 
153. 

Hoitt,  Dr.  Ira  G.   (educator):  11. 

Holbrook,  Mrs.  "Nelly"  (Am.  ac 
tress  and  dram,  teacher):  11. 

Holmes,  E.  B.:  135. 

Holmes,  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  (the 
poet,  etc.:  1809-1894):  287. 

Honeymoon,"  "The   (comedy):  32. 


Hood,  Thomas  (the  poet:  1799- 
1845):  43. 

Hooley,  Richard  Martin  (Am.  th. 
man.:  1822-1898):  80;  his  th.  co. 
in  S.  F.— B.'s  interest  in,  81; 
success  of  "Ultimo"  produced 
by,  82;  191;  rejects  "Chums," 
192;  425;  B.  arranges  with,  for 
production  of  "The  Heart  of 
Maryland,"  426;  death  of,  427. 

Hopper,  De  Wolf  (Am.  actor: 
1858-19—) :  290. 

Ho  wells,  William  Dean  (Am.  nov 
elist  and  playwright:  1837- 
19 — ) :  letter  to,  by  Clemens  re 
"The  Gilded  Age,"  65. 

Howard,  Bronson  (Am.  dramatist: 
1843-1908):  125;  244;  his  opinion 
of  "La  Belle  Russe,"  etc.,  245; 
recognition  of,  helps  B.,  279; 
328;  influence  of  his  example, 
329;  373;  439. 

Hunchback,"  "The  (comedy)  :  Julia 
Dean  remembered  in,  8;  per 
formance  of  same  in,  perfection, 
9  •  63  •  372 

Hurlburt,  Alvin  (hotel  keeper): 
192. 


"Ici  on  Parle  Francais"  (farce): 
36. 

Illustrious  Stranger,"  "The  (play)  : 
B.  in,  37. 

Ince,  Annette  (Am.  actress):  acts 
Nancy,  in  "Oliver  Twist,"  72;  135. 

Ingoldsby,  Thomas  (Richard  Har 
ris  Barham:  Eng.  poet:  1788- 
1845)  :  43. 

"Ingomar"  (play) :  372. 

"In  Spite  of  All"  (melod.):  311. 

"Ireland  and  America"  (melod.): 
49. 

"Ireland  As  It  Was"   (play):  50. 

Irving,  Sir  Henry,  kt.  (John 
Henry  Brodribb:  Eng.  actor,  th. 
man.,  and  stage  man.:  1838- 
1905):  140;  168;  170;  171;  222; 
his  revival  of  "K.  Louis  XI.," 
223;  performance  in,  224. 

Irving,  Washington  (Am.  man.  of 
letters:  1783-1859):  169;  175. 

Isherwood,   William    (actor):   173. 


516 


INDEX 


"Itinerant,"  Ryley's  (dram,  biog 
raphy)  :  40. 

"Ixion;  or,  The  Man  at  the  Wheel" 
(burlesque):  177. 


Jackson,  Hart  (Am.  playwright: 
died,  1882) :  300. 

James  [Belasco],  David  (Eng.  ac 
tor  and  th.  man.:  1839-1893): 
uncle  of  B.,  6. 

James,  Louis  (Am.  actor:  1843- 
1910):  87;  89. 

James,  Miss   (school  teacher):  11. 

"Jane  Shore"   (melod.) :  458. 

Jarrett  &  Palmer  (Am.  th.  man 
agers)  :  bring  G.  Rignold  to  Am., 
90;  dissension  between,  and 
same — their  transcontinental  ex 
press  train,  91. 

Jealous  Wife,"  "The  (play):  52; 
160. 

Jefferson,  Elizabeth  (Mrs.  Samuel 
Chapman — Mrs.  Augustus  Rich 
ardson — Mrs.  Charles  J.  B. 
Fisher:  Am.  actress:  1810-1890): 
153. 

Jefferson,  Mrs.  Joseph  (wife  of 
the  third  J.  J. — Cornelia  Frances 
Thomds — Mrs.  Thomas  Burke: 
Am.  actress:  1796-1849:  mother 
of  J.  J.,  1829-1905) :  153. 

JEFFERSON,  JOSEPH  (the  fourth: 
Am.  actor,  playwright,  and 
stage  manager:  1829-1905):  ef 
fect  of,  as  Rip,  69;  155;  B.  on 
his  Rip,  168;  and  as  Rip  Van 
Winkle,  172,  et  seq.;  Herne  im 
pressed  by,  and  emulative  of, 
200. 

Jeffreys-Lewis,  Mary  (Eng.-Am. 

actress:  18 19—):  70;  230; 

238;  242. 

"Jesse  Brown;  or,  The  Relief  of 
Lucknow"  (melod.)  :  412;  419. 

Jerome,  Jerome  Klapka  (Eng.  au 
thor  and  playwright:  1859-19—): 
487. 

Jibbenainosay,"  "The  (melod.):  B. 
appears  in,  with  J.  Proctor,  26. 

"Jim  Black;  or,  The  Regulator's 
Revenge":  first(?)  play  by  B., 
13. 


Johnson,  Dr.  Samuel  (Eng.  dram 
atist  and  man  of  letters:  1709- 
1784):  quoted,  re  accuracy,  23; 
306. 

"Jones's  Baby"  (farce):  60. 

Jones,  Frank  (actor)  :  B.  acts  with, 
86. 

Judah,  Mrs.  Emanuel  (Marietta 
Starfield — Mrs.  John  Torrence : 
Am.  actress:  1829-1883):  131; 
135. 

"Julius  Caesar":  Montgomery,  Bar 
rett,  McCullough,  etc.,  in  cast 
of,  42;  43;  Booth,  McCullough, 
etc.,  in,  at  Calif.  Th.,  94. 


K 


Kaffir  Diamond,"  "The  (melod.): 
revised  by  B. — contents  and 
quality  of,  345,  et  seq.;  cast  of, 
347  •  353 

"Katharine  and  Petruchio":  137. 

Kean,  Charles  John  (Eng.  actor, 
th.  man.,  and  stage  man.:  1811- 
1868) :  farewell  tour  of— and  B. 
appears  with,  in  childhood,  10; 
the  same,  26;  132;  164. 

Kean,  Edmund  (Eng.  actor:  1787- 
1833):  40;  "quiet  acting"  of,  154. 

Keene,  Laura  (Lee? — May  Moss? 
— Mrs.  John  Taylor — Mrs.  John 
Lutz:  Am.  actress  and  th.  man.: 
1820-1873):  153;  172. 

Keene,  Thomas  W.  (Am.  actor: 

18 18—):  94,  95;  and  B.,  acts 

in  Petaluma,  103. 

Keepers  of  Lighthouse  Cliff," 
"The  ("The  Lighthouse  Cliff": 
melod.) :  200. 

Kelcey  (Lamb),  Herbert  (Eng.- 
Am.  actor:  1856-1917):  335;  per 
formance  of,  in  "The  Charity 
Ball,"  360. 

Kellerd,  John  (Am.  actor:  1863- 
19—) :  444. 

Kemble,  Ella:  acts  Rose  May  lie,  72. 

Kemble,  John  Philip  (Eng.  actor, 
th.  man.,  and  dramatist:  1757- 
1823):  151. 

"Kenilworth"    (burlesque):  90. 

Kennedy,  Michael  A.  (actor):  87; 
B.  acts  in  bft.  for,  90;  261. 

"Kerry"  (play) :  59. 


INDEX 


517 


Kimball,  Grace:  349. 

King,  Charles  A.  (th.  man.):  131. 

King,  H.  (actor) :  135. 

"King  Henry  V.":  Rignold  in,  90; 
Barrett  in,  91;  Calvert's  pre 
sentment  of,  92. 

"King  Henry  VIII." :  43. 

"King  John":  43;  44;  1ST;   247. 

"King  Lear":  88;  137. 

"King  Louis  XI."  (tragedy):  222; 
223. 

King  of  the  Opium  Ring,"  "The 
(melod.) :  346. 

"King  Richard  III.":  B.,  in  child 
hood,  appears  in,  with  C.  Kean, 
10;  the  same,  26;  43;  horseback 
combat  in,  79;  Baldwin's  A.  of 
M.  opened  with,  87;  88;  100; 
137;  249;  348. 

Kingsley,  Walter  (circus  clown) : 
befriends  B.,  5;  dies;  his  name 
adopted  by  B.,  25;  same,  217. 

Kingsley,  Walter:  adopted  name 
of  David  Belasco,  q.v. 

Kiss  in  the  Dark,"  "A  (farce): 
37. 

Klaw  &  Erlanger  (th.  booking 
agents  and  speculative  th.  man 
agers)  :  427. 

Knight,  George  (George  Washing 
ton  Sloan:  Am.  actor:  1850- 
1892):  321,  et  seq.;  failure  of, 
in  "Baron  Rudolph"  ("Only  a 
Tramp") — and  death  of,  325. 

Knowles,  James  Sheridan  (Eng. 
actor,  dramatist,  and  preacher: 
1783-1862):  9;  327. 

Knowlton,  Prof.  Ebenezer  (school 
teacher  and  public  reader):  11. 

Kotzebue,  Augustus  Frederick 
Ferdinand  von  (German  dram 
atist:  1762-1819):  7. 

Krehbiel,  Henry  Edward  (Am. 
critic  of  music:  1854-19—): 
quoted,  re  "Madame  Butterfly," 
490,  et  seq. 


"Lady  Madge"  (play):  71. 

Lady  of  Lyons,"  "The  (comedy): 
first  Am.  appearance  of  Mary 
Wells  made  in,  23;  46;  63;  69; 
103;  209;  309. 


Lamont,  "Jennie"    (actress):  261. 

Lander,  Jean  Davenport  (Mrs. 
Frederick  West  Lander:  Eng.- 
Am.  actress:  1829-1903):  133. 

Lawlor,  Frank   (actor):  131. 

"Leah  the  Forsaken"  (melod.): 
202;  228;  261. 

"Leatherstocking"  (play):  92. 

Leclercq,  Carlotta  (Mrs.  John 
Nelson:  Eng.  actress:  1838- 
1893):  133. 

"Led  Astray"  (play):  first  pro 
duced — B.'s  reminiscence  of,  etc., 
53,  et  seq.;  54;  55;  56;  57;  au 
thor  on,  when  first  produced, 
59;  61;  63. 

Legion  of  Honor,"  "The  (play): 
217. 

Leighton,  Adele  (histrionic  nov 
ice)  :  71. 

Lemon,  E.  F.  (boyhood  friend  of 
B.):  letter  from,  14. 

Le  Moyne,  William  J.  (Am.  actor: 
1831-1905):  286;  335;  476. 

"Leonor  de  Guzman"  (play):  9. 

Le  Roy,  James  H.  (actor,  stage 
man.,  and  playwright) :  employs 
B. — and  makes  dramatization  of 
"The  New  Magdalen"  at  sugges 
tion  of  same,  46,  et  seq.;  71; 
231. 

Leslie  (Lyde),  Elsie  (Mrs.  [Wil 
liam]  Jefferson  Winter:  Am. 
actress:  1880-19 — ):  developed 
by  B. — eminence  of,  317;  suc 
cess  of,  in  "Little  Lord  Faunt- 
leroy" — and  suggests  dual  ap 
pearance  in  "The  Prince  and 
the  Pauper" — that  suggestion 
adopted,  367;  B.'s  opinion  of, 
367. 

Leslie,  Henry  (Eng.  dramatist: 
1829-1881):  193;  199. 

Lever,  Charles  James  (Irish  novel 
ist:  1806-1872):  72. 

Lewis,  Leopold  (Eng.  playwright)  : 
172. 

Lewis,  Matthew  Gregory  (poet: 
1775-1818):  11;  15. 

"Liberty  Hall"  (play):  424;  428; 
430. 

Lincoln,  Abraham  (President  U. 
S.  A.:  1809-1865):  death  of,  m., 
13;  164. 


518 


INDEX 


Lincoln  Grammar  School,  the,  in 
S.  F.:  B.  a  pupil  at,  11;  12;  B. 
at,  14;  23;  26;  27. 

Life's  Revenge;  or,  Two  Loves  for 
One  Heart,"  "A  (melod.):  B. 
acts  in,  28. 

Lights  o'  London,"  "The  (melod.) : 
250. 

"Lillian's  Lost  Love"  (play):  129. 

Lindsay, (actor) :  acts  Fagin, 

72. 

Lingard  Combination,"  "The:  24; 
acts  "La  Tentation"  in  S.  F.,  63. 

Lingard,  William  Horace  (actor) : 
employs  B.,  68;  133. 

Lione**  of  Nubia,"  "The:  no  such 
play  exists,  23. 

Lion  of  Nubia,"  "The  (play):  B.'s 
first  formal  appearance  on  stage 
made  in,  24. 

Lipsis,  "Carrie"  (actress):  35. 

"Little  Don  Giovanni;  or,  Le~ 
perello  and  the  Stone  Statue" 
(burlesque):  36;  37. 

"Little  Em'ly"  (play):  92;  202. 

Little  Hero,"  "The  ("The  Stow 
away"— poem):  effect  of  McCul- 
lough's  recitation  of,  on  B.,  17, 
et  seq. 

"Little  Jim,  the  Collier's  Lad" 
(poem) :  recital  of,  to  music,  by 
B.,  99. 

"Little  Katy;  or,  The  Hot  Corn 
Girl"  (melod.) :  49. 

"Little  Lord  Fauntleroy"  (play): 
Elsie  Leslie  in,  365. 

Lone  Pine,"  "The  (play):  108;  B. 
rewrites  for  D.  Thompson,  etc., 
Ill,  et  seq. 

Lonely  Man  of  the  Ocean,"  "The 
(melod.):  346. 

Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth 
(the  poet:  1807-1882):  monition 
of,  to  author,  370. 

Long,  John  Luther  (Am.  novelist 
and  playwright:  1861-19—):  477. 

Long  Strike,"  "The  (melod.):  100. 

"Loan  CHUMLEY"  (comedy):  432; 
written  for  Sothern,  340;  Soth- 
ern  dissatisfied  with — and  pro 
duction  of,  341;  quality,  and 
story  of,  342;  B.'s  recollections 
of  its  origin,  343;  performance 
and  success  of,  344;  cost  of,  345. 


"Lost  in  London*'  (melod.): 
prompt  book  of,  by  B.,  84. 

LOTTA  (Charlotte  Mignon  Crab- 
tree:  Am.  actress:  184[5?]-19— ): 
as  Fire-Fly  in  "Under  Two 
Flags" — and  S.  F.  amateur's  so 
ciety  named  for,  28;  133;  188; 
189;  "Pawn  Ticket  210"  written 
for — and  success  of,  in  same,  317, 
et  seq.;  sensible  view  of  "criti 
cism,"  320. 

Loverich,  Cecilia:  see  Belasco,  Mrs. 
David. 

"Love's  Penance"  (play):  Stuart's 
Park  Th.  opened  with,  59;  69. 

"Love's  Sacrifice"  (play) :  9. 

"Lucretia  Borgia"  (play):  52. 

Lyons  Mail,"  "The  (melod.):  222. 

Lyster,  Frederick:  B.  acts  with,  at 
Shiels'  O.  H.,  49;  110. 

Me— M 

McCabe,  James  H.  (old-time  ac 
tor  and  th.  agent) :  early  friend 
ship  of,  with  B.,  39;  71;  130. 

McCarthy,  Justin  Huntly,  Jr. 
(Irish-Eng.  dramatist  and  nov 
elist:  1860-19—):  482. 

McCuLLouGH,  JOHN  EDWARD 
(Irish- Am.  actor  and  th.  man.: 
1832-1885):  his  recitation  of 
"The  Little  Hero"— and  effect 
of  same  on  B.,  17,  et  seq.;  42; 
92;  95;  approves  Modjeska  and 
engages  her,  102;  first  appear 
ance  of,  in  S.  F.,  134;  136;  feel 
ing  between,  and  L.  Barrett, 
165;  acts  in  "J.  C."  with  Barrett 
and  Montgomery,  167. 

McDonough,  Thomas  B.  (th.  agent 
and  man.):  226. 

McDowell,  Gen.  Irwin:  227. 

McDowell,  Henry  B.:  227. 

McGuire,  Father  (Roman  Catholic 
priest) :  takes  B.,  in  childhood, 
to  dwell  with  him,  4;  5. 

McGuire,  J.  C.  (Am.  actor) :  35. 

McVicker,  James  Horace  (Am.  th. 
man.:  1822-189G) :  191. 

McWade,  Robert  (actor):  as  Rip, 
168:  176. 

Macaulay,  Thomas  Babington,  first 
Lord  (the  historian,  etc.:  1800- 
1859) :  3. 


INDEX 


519 


"Macbeth":  88;  249. 

Mackaye,  Frank  F (Am.  ac 
tor:  1832-19 — ):  letter  from,  on 
behalf  N.  Y.  Union  Square  Th. 
Co.,  to  B.,  106;  261;  another 
letter  from,  to  B.,  262. 

MACKAYE,  JAMES  STEELE  (Am.  ac 
tor,  th.  man.,  playwright,  in 
ventor,  etc.:  1842-1894):  272; 
273;  274;  292;  295;  a  friend  of 
author — and  reads  play  to,  etc., 
296,  et  seq.;  297;  311;  348. 

Macready,  William  Charles  (Eng. 
actor,  th.  man.,  and  stage  man.: 
1793-1873):  96;  151;  "quiet  act 
ing"  of,  154. 

"Mme.  1'Archiduc"  (opera)  :  88. 

"MADAME  BUTTERFLY"  (story) : 
476;  B.  reads — and  bases  a  dra 
matic  tragedy  on — the  same 
critically  considered  in  detail, 
477,  et  seq.;  unique  feature  in 
performance  of,  480;  B.  pro 
duces — and  success  of,  482;  B. 
Bates'  performance  in  and  orig 
inal  cast  of,  483;  B.  takes  to 
London,  486;  with  C.  Frohman, 
produces  it  there — and  profound 
impression  created — London  cast 
of,  487;  great  tribute  to  B.  by 
audience  at  first  London  per 
formance  of — and  B.'s  account 
of,  488;  B.  gives  operatic  rights 
of  to  Puccini — and  Puccini's 
opera  of,  commented  on,  489,  et 
seq.;  cast  of,  as  opera,  490;  491; 
492. 

MADISON  SQUARE  THEATRE,  N.  Y.: 
158;  account  of,  271,  et  seq. 

Magistrate,"  "The  (farcical  com 
edy):  73. 

Maguire,  Thomas  (Calif,  th.  man.: 
died,  1896):  built  the  O.  H.  in 
Virginia  City,  Nev.  (Piper's), 
50;  B.  employed  by,  as  secre 
tary,  70;  associated  with  E.  J. 
Baldwin  in  building  and  man 
aging  Baldwin's  A.  of  M.,  S.  F., 
87;  105;  113;  withdraws  "The 
Passion  Play" — and  revives  same, 
117;  176;  engages  R.  Coghlan, 
177;  178;  dissension  between, 
and  Baldwin,  183;  185;  191; 
228;  241;  harsh  treatment  of 


B.  by,  242;  243;  244;  loses  Bald 
win  Theatre,  S.  F.,  253. 
Maguire's    New    Theatre,    S.     F. 

(previously      the      Alhambra) : 

opened,  69. 
Maiden's   Prayer,"   "The    (poem): 

recital  of,  to  music,  by  B.,  99. 
Main    Line;    or,     Rawson's     Y.,5> 

"The   (play):  313. 
Mallory,  Dr.   George    (clergyman, 

editor,  and  th.  man.:  18 18—) : 

112;  273,  et  seq. 
Mallory,    Marshall    H.     (Am.    th. 

man.) :  207. 
Malone,     John     T.     (Am.     actor: 

1854-1906):  218,  et  seq.;  273,  et 

seq. 
"Man    and    Wife"     (novel):    play 

made  on,  49. 

Mandeville,  "Jennie"  (actress)  :  35. 
Maniac,"    "The    (poem):    11;    15; 

20;  25;  26;  44;  recited  by  B.  to 

music,  99 

"Mankind"   (melod.) :  250,     - 
Mansfield,    Richard     (Am.    actor: 

1854-1907):  312. 

Mantell,    Robert    Bruce     (Scotch- 
Am,  actor:  1853-19—)  :  196;  291; 

292;  309. 
Marble  Heart,"  "The   (play):  46; 

309. 
Marble,  John  Edward   (Am.  actor 

and  th.  man.:  18 18—):  135. 

Marchande     de      Sourires,"      "La 

(play):  482. 
"Margaret  Fleming"    (play):  198; 

quality  of — and  incident  in,  199. 
Mariner's          Compass,"          "The 

(melod.):    193;    194;    195;    198; 

205. 
Marlowe,    Julia     (Sarah    Frances 

Frost — "Fanny      Brough" — Mrs. 

Robert      Taber — Mrs.      Edward 

Hugh     Sothern:     Am.     actress: 

1867-19—) :  470. 
Marlowe,  Owen  (Eng.  actor:  1830- 

1876)  :  36. 

Marquis,"  "The   (play):  355. 
Marsden,  Frederick  G.  (Am.  play 
wright)  :  34. 
Marston,    John    Westland     (Eng. 

dramatist:  1820-1890):  51. 
"Mary  Stuart"  (play):  52. 
"Mary  Warner"  (play) :  261, 


520 


INDEX 


Mason,  John  Belcher  (Am.  actor: 
1858-19—):  162. 

Massey,  Rose  (burlesque  actress: 
died,  1883):  166. 

Match  for  a  King,"  "A  (play): 
87. 

Matthison,  Arthur  (Eng.  journal 
ist  and  dramatist:  1826-1883): 
IT. 

"Maum  Cre"  (melod.) :  B.  acts  in, 
with  Murphy,  49. 

"May  Blossom"  (play):  112;  pro 
duction — account  of — contents 
and  performance,  280,  et  seq.; 
cast,  290;  432. 

Mayer,  Marcus  (th.  agent:  18 

1918) :  208. 

Mayhew,  "Katie"  (Mrs.  Henry 
Widmer:  Am.  actress):  87;  96. 

Maynard,  Cora:  349. 

Mayo,  Frank  (Am.  actor  and  th. 
man.:  1840-1896):  version  of 
"Griffith  Gaunt"  by,  71;  132; 
168. 

Meilhac,  Henri  (Fr.  dramatist: 
1831-1897):  450. 

Melville,  Emilie  (Am.  actress): 
135. 

Melville,  Julia  (Am.  actress  and 
teacher):  181. 

"Memoirs  of  Tate  Wilkinson":  40. 

"MEN  AND  WOMEN"  (melod.) : 
written  on  order  for  C.  Frohman 
— and  account  of  same,  373; 
quality,  and  story,  of,  377,  et 
seq.;  production  and  success  of 
— cast  of,  381;  moral  doctrine 
of  B.  revealed  in,  382;  383;  432. 

Merchant  of  Venice,"  "The:  64; 
137;  139. 

Merivale,  Herman  (Eng.  drama 
tist:  1839-1906):  231. 

Merritt,  Paul  (Eng.  playwright: 
died,  1895):  227;  258. 

Mestayer,  William  A.  (Am.  actor: 
1844-1896):  132;  229. 

Methua-Scheller,  Mme.  Marie 
(Mrs.  J.  G.  Methua:  Ger.-Am. 

actress:  18 1878):  acts  in  S. 

F.  in  "The  Roll  of  the  Drum," 
13;  B.  appears  in  S.  F.  with,  in 
"Under  the  Gas-Light,"  26. 

Metropolitan  Th.,  S.  F.:  B.'s  first 
appearance  made  at,  24;  re 


opened  under  management  of 
Woodard,  35;  last  regular  per 
formance  at,  46. 

Meux,  Lady  Valerie  Susie  (Lang- 
don)  :  invites  B.  to  direct  Mrs. 
C.  U.  Potter,  492;  offers  to  build 
theatre  for  B. — and  both  her 
proposals  declined  by  same,  493. 

Mexican  Tigress,"  "The  (play)  :  49. 

"Mazeppa"  (spectacle) :  70. 

Midsummer  Night's  Dream,"  "A: 
137. 

Miles,  Lieut-General  Nelson  Ap- 
pleton  (1839-19—):  405. 

Millard,  Evelyn  (Mrs.  Robert 
Porter  Coulter:  Eng.  actress: 
1873-19—) :  487. 

Miller,  Cincinnatus  Heine  (Joa- 
quin  Miller)  (Am.  poet,  play 
wright,  etc.:  1841-1913):  105. 

Miller,  Henry  John  (Am.  actor, 
th.  man.:  1860-19—):  335. 

MILLIONAIRE'S  DAUGHTER,"  "THE 
(play) :  inspiration  of — and  set 
ting  for  principal  scene  in,  125; 
gist  of — and  cast,  127;  com 
pared  with  "The  Banker's 
Daughter" — similar  scene  in, 
128;  176;  328. 

Milton,  John  (the  poet:  1609- 
1674):  120. 

Millward,  "Jessie"  (Eng.  actress: 
1861-19—) :  291. 

"Mimi"  (play):  53;  produced  in 
S.  F.,  61. 

Miser's  Daughter,"  "The  (melod.) : 
B.  in,  86. 

"Miss  Decima"  (farce  with  music) : 
398.  See  also  "Miss  Helyett." 

"Miss  HELYETT"  (farce  with  mu 
sic)  :  rewritten  by  B. — produced 
— story,  and  performance,  of, 
397,  et  seq.;  cast  of,  399;  421; 
422. 

"Miss  Hobbs"  (comedy)  :  437. 

Modjeska,  Mme.  Helena  (Helen 
Opid— Mrs.  Gustave  S.  Modrze- 
jewska — Mrs.  Charles  [Karol] 
Bozenta  Chlapowska :  Polish- 
Am,  actress:  1840-1909):  settles 
in  Calif. — forced  to  return  to 
stage,  100;  obtains  hearing  by 
B.  Hill — and  author's  account 
of  same,  101;  approved  by  Me- 


INDEX 


521 


Cullough,  102;  B.  sees  first  Am. 
performance  of,  103;  133;  151; 
309. 

Moliere,  Jean-Baptiste  Poquelin  de 
(Fr.  actor,  th.  man.,  and  dram 
atist:  1712-1763):  157;  330. 

Montague,  Winnetta  (Leleah  Bur- 
ph6  Bigelow— Mrs.  Arnold  W. 
Taylor:  died,  1877):  96;  mar 
riage  of,  and  W.  Montgomery — 
death  of,  167. 

MONTGOMERY,  WALTER  (Richard 
Tomlinson:  Am.  actor:  1827- 
1871):  B.'s  early  admiration  of 
— extraordinary  performance  of, 
supported  by  Barrett,  McCul- 
lough,  etc. — and  last  appear 
ances  in  Calif.,  42;  programmes 
of  his  "Royal  Recitals,"  43;  95; 
130;  132;  164;  165;  not  en 
amoured  of  R.  Massey,  166; 
marriage  and  suicide  of,  167. 

Montrose,  James  Graham,  Mar 
quess  of  (1612-1650):  philosophy 
of,  371. 

MOONLIGHT  MARRIAGE,"  "THE 
(play):  179;  produced,  and  cast 
of,  180;  182;  185. 

Moore,  "Maggie"  (Mrs.  James 
Cassius  Williamson :  Am.-Aus- 
tralian  actress):  107;  182. 

"Mora"  (play):  produced  in  N. 
Y.,  58. 

"More  Blunders  than  One"  (farce)  : 
49. 

Mordant,  Frank  (Am.  actor:  1841- 
19—)  :  382 ;  fine  performance  by, 
415. 

Mordaunt,  Marian  (Mrs.  

Strickland:  Am.  actress):  B. 
acts  in  bft.  for,  36. 

Moreto,  Augustin  (Spanish  dram 
atist:  1618-1661):  51. 

Morning  Call,"  "A  (farce):  36. 

Morse,  Salmi  (Samuel  Moss:  Ger.- 
Am.  playwright:  1826-1883):  his 
"Passion  Play,"  114,  et  seq.; 
reads  same  to  author  and  others, 
117;  same— and  on  his  purpose 
in  writing,  120;  his  "Temple 
Theatre,"  374;  375. 

Morris,  Clara  (Clara  Morrison, 
Mrs.  Frederick  C.  Harriott: 
Can.-Am.  actress  and  writer: 


1848-19—):  first  appearance  of, 
in  S.  F.,  directed  by  B.,  108. 

Morris,  William  (Am.  actor:  1861- 
19—) :  382. 

Morrison,  Lewis  (Am.  actor  and 
th.  man.:  1845-1906):  acts  Romeo 
with  A.  Neilson,  63;  110;  132; 
178;  179;  189. 

Morrison,  Hon.  Robert  Francis 
(Judge— in  S.  F.):  117. 

Morrison,  R.  W.   (lawyer):  388. 

Morton,  John  Maddison  (Eng. 
dramatist:  1811-1891):  313. 

Moser,  Gustav  von  (Ger.  drama 
tist:  1825-1903):  80. 

"Moths"  (novel)  :  dramatization  of, 
30. 

"Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peter  White"  (en 
tertainment) :  69;  80. 

"Much  Ado  About  Nothing":  137. 

Murdock,  Frank  (Am.  actor  and 
playwright) :  200. 

Murdock,  James  Edward  (Am.  ac 
tor:  1813-1893):  132. 

Murphy  (Donnelly),  Joseph  (Am. 
"negro  minstrel"  and  actor: 
1832-1915) :  Belasco  acts  with,  in 
"Help,"  34;  35;  B.  acts  with, 
at  Shiels'  O.  H.,  in  various  plays, 
49. 

"Musette"  (play):  18S. 

Music  MASTER,"  "THE  (play) :  139. 

"My  Neighbor's  Wife"  (farce): 
474. 

"My  Partner"  (play):  348. 

MYSTERIOUS  INN,"  "THE  (melod.) : 
98. 

"My  Turn  Next"  (farce):  103. 


N 


"Nancy  &  Co."  (farce):  306. 

"Natural"  acting:  early  great  ex 
emplars  of,  153. 

"NAUGHTY  ANTHONY"  (farce): 
113;  469;  first  production— and 
in  N.  Y. — contents  and  quality 
of,  473;  474;  serious  purpose  of 
B.  in — and  performances  in, 
475;  comment  on,  476;  491. 

NEILSON,  LILIAN  ADELAIDE  (Eliza 
beth  Ann  Bland— Mrs.  Philip 
Lee:  Eng.  actress:  184  [6?] - 
1880)  :  her  first  S.  F.  engagement 


522 


INDEX 


— B.  appears  with,  during,  63; 
133;  209;  her  farewell  engage 
ment,  210;  last  appearance  of— 
and  B.'s  reminiscence  of,  211,  et 
seq.;  214. 

Newstader,  Rabbi:  marries  B.  and 
Cecilia  Loverich:  45. 

New  Babylon,"  "The  (melod.) :  125. 

New  Magdalen,"  "The  (novel) :  Le 
Roy's  version  of,  46;  Collins' 
characterization  of  dramatiza 
tions — Bella  Pateman  acts  in — 
Collins'  dramatization  of,  pro 
duced,  47;  48;  84;  231;  254. 

New  Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts,"  "A 
(tragedy):  87;  222;  224. 

"Nick  o'  the  Woods"  ("The  Jib- 
benainosay,"  q.v. — melod.)  :  69. 

Nickenson,  John  (Can.  actor)  :  157. 

Night  Off,"  "A  (farce):  306. 

Night  Session,"  "A  (farce):  450. 

"Ninon"  (play) :  221. 

"Nita;  or,  Woman's  Constancy" 
(melod.) :  70. 

"Nordeck"  (melod.)  :  312. 

Norton,  "Emperor":  mimicry  of, 
by  B.,  37;  38. 

"Nor  GUILTY"  (melod.):  B.'s  ver 
sion  of,  produced  in  S.  F. — 
cast — success  of — and  B.'s  rem 
iniscences  of,  109;  453. 

"Not  Such  a  Fool  as  He  Looks" 
(comedy):  343. 

"Notre  Dame":  Wheatleigh's  dram 
atization  of,  69. 

Nunnemacher,  Jacob  (th.  man.) : 
196. 


Gates,  Mrs.  James  A.  (Alice  Mer- 
ritt:  singer  and  th.  man.:  1849- 
1887):  her  opera  co.  at  Bald 
win's  A.  of  M.,  88. 

Octoroon,"  "The  (play):  B.'s  al 
teration  of,  106;  254;  revived  by 
B.  and  G.  Frohman — cast  of, 
255,  et  seq.;  257;  261. 

Ohnet,  Georges  (French  novelist 
and  dramatist:  1848-19 — ):  296. 

"Olivia"  (play):  produced,  106; 
cast  of — and  contents,  107. 

"Oliver  Twist"  (play):  revival  of, 
by  Herne,  etc.,  72;  198;  372;  390. 


"One  Hundred  Years  Old"  (play): 
105. 

"One  of  Our  Girls"  (comedy) :  312. 

O'Neill,  James  (Irish-Am,  actor: 
1849-19—):  85;  succeeds  Cath- 
cart  as  Richmond,  88;  105;  suc 
cess  of,  in  "Proof  Positive,"  108; 
114;  impersonates  Jesus  Christ, 
in  "Passion  Play,"  115;  arrested 
and  imprisoned,  117;  fined,  118; 
123;  B.'s  opinion  of  his  Jesus 
Christ,  125;  132;  178;  179;  180; 
186;  188;  190;  473. 

"One  Thousand  Milliners"  (farce)  : 
90. 

"Only  a  Tramp"  (melod.):  321; 
failure  of,  325 ;  cast  of,  326.  See 
also  "Baron  Rudolph." 

Osborne,  George  (actor):  261. 

"Othello":  137;  247;  249;  332. 

"Ouida"  (Mile.  Louise  de  la  Ra- 
me"e:  Eng.  novelist:  1839-1908): 
her  "Under  Two  Flags,"  men 
tioned,  28;  308. 

"Our  American  Cousin"  (play)  :  51. 

"Our  Boys"   (comedy):  261. 

"Oua  MYSTERIOUS  BOARDING  HOUSE" 
(farce):  98. 

"Ours"  (play):  180. 

"Out  at  Sea"   (melod.):  49. 

Owens,  John  Edmond  (Am.  actor 
and  th.  man.:  1823-1886):  B.'s 
recollections  of — and  same  writes 
a  play  for,  etc.,  78;  132;  153. 

P(Q) 

Paine,  Albert  Bigelow  (Am.  au 
thor  and  ed.:  1861-19—):  his 
"Mark  Twain,  a  Biography," 
quoted,  65. 

PALMER,  ALBERT  MARSHALL  (Am. 
th.  man.:  1839-1905):  55;  56; 
126;  128;  129;  friction  with  B., 
293;  294;  B.  negotiates  with, 
368;  places  theatres  at  disposal 
of  B.,  for  rehearsals,  369;  agrees 
to  prochice  "The  Heart  of  Mary 
land,"  432;  forced  to  abandon 
that  project,  435. 

Palmer,  "Minnie"  (Mrs.  Daniel 
Edward  Bandmann:  actress): 
133. 

"Paradise  Lost":  120. 


INDEX 


523 


Park  Theatre,  N.  Y.:  "The  Gilded 
Age"  at,  68. 

Parlor  Match,"  "A  (farce) :  436. 

Parts,  dramatic:  all  sorts  of, 
played  by  B.,  137;  list  of  more 
than  170  of  B.'s,  140,  et  seq. 

Partridge,  William  Ordway  (Am. 
sculptor:  1861-19—):  349. 

PASSION  PLAY,"  "THE  (Morse's): 
produced  in  S.  F. — and  exam 
ination  and  account  of,  114,  et 
seq. 

Pateman,  Bella  (Mrs.  Robert  Pate- 
man:  actress:  1844-1908):  first 
appearance  of,  in  S.  F.,  46 ;  "The 
New  Magdalen"  dramatized  for, 
at  B.'s  suggestion,  47;  estimates 
of,  as  actress,  48. 

"PAUL  ARNIFF"  (melod.):  214;  215; 
cast  of,  216. 

Paul,  Logan  (actor):  261. 

"Pauline"  (play):  B.  appears  in, 
with  the  Keans,  10. 

"PAWN  TICKET  210"  (melod.): 
written  for  Lotta — produced, 
etc.,  317,  et  seq.;  cast  of,  320. 

Pearson,  A.  Y.  (th.  man.:  186  [2?]- 
1903) :  400. 

Pell,  Katie   (actress):  74. 

People's  Lawyer,"  "The  (play): 
78;  103. 

"Peril;  or,  Love  at  Long  Branch" 
(play) :  81. 

PERSECUTED  TRAVELLER,"  "THE 
(farce):  98. 

Pettitt,  Henry  (Eng.  playwright: 
1848-1893):  227;  258. 

Phelps,  Charles  (M.D.:  18 19—): 

120. 

Phelps,  Fanny  Morgan  (actress): 
74;  97. 

Phillips,  Watts  (Eng.  dramatist: 
1829-1874):  108;  110;  179. 

Piatt,  Don  (Am.  writer):  on  Rip 
and  Fanchon,  169. 

Piercy,  Samuel  W.  (Am.  actor  and 

playwright:  18 1882):  death 

of — and  B.'s  admiration  for,  69; 
217. 

Pilar-Morin,  Mile.  (Fr.  ac 
tress)  :  492. 

Pinero,  Sir  Arthur  Wing  (kt.,  cr., 
1909:  Eng.  actor  and  dramatist: 
1855-19—):  73;  246;  344. 


"Pink  Dominos"  (farce):  189. 

Piper,  John  (Ger.-Am.  th.  man.: 
1830-1897):  engages  B.,  50;  B.'s 
experiences  under  management 
of,  51,  et  seq.;  his  stock  co.,  62; 
B.  freed  from,  63. 

Piper,  Mrs.  John:  B.'s  painful  ex 
perience  with,  62. 

Piper's  Opera  House,  Virginia 
City:  particulars  about — and  B. 
engaged  at,  50. 

Pixley  [Shea],  Annie  (Mrs.  Robert 
Fulford:  Am.  actress:  1858- 
1893):  74. 

"Pizarro"  (play):  6;  in  J.  Dean's 
repertory,  7. 

Placide,  Henry  (Am.  actor:  1800- 
1870):  153. 

Platt,  George  Foster:  349. 

"Playing  with  Fire"  (farcical 
comedy) :  474. 

Plays:  altered  and  adopted  by  B. — 
and  Mrs.  Bates  on  B.'s  felicity 
in  such  work,  84;  acted  in  by 
B. — more  than  170  enumerated, 
141,  et  seq. 

"Pluto"  (burlesque):  37. 

Plympton,  Eben  (Am.  actor: 
1853-1915):  132;  312. 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan  (the  poet,  etc.: 
1809-1849):  43. 

Polish  Jew,"  "The  (play)  :  171. 

Pond,  Anson  (Am.  playwright): 
348. 

Ponisi,  Mme.  James  (Elizabeth 
Hanson — Mrs.  Samuel  Wallis: 
Eng.-Am.  actress:  1818-1899): 
177;  298. 

Poole,  Mrs. (actress) :  132. 

"Poor  Richard's  Almanac":  4. 

Post  of  Honor,"  "The  (play) :  106. 

Potter,  Mrs.  James  Brown  (Cora 
Urquhart:  Am.-Eng.  actress  and 
th.  man.:  1859-19—);  492;  493. 

Potter,  Paul  Meredith  (Am.  jour 
nalist  and  playwright:  1853- 
19—):  383;  433. 

Potter,  John  S.  (th.  man.) :  131. 

Powers,  Francis  (Am.  actor  and 
playwright):  447;  448. 

Powers,  "Harry"  (Am.  th.  busi 
ness  ag't.):  426;  427. 

Prescott,  Marie  (Am.  actress: 
died,  1893):  242. 


524 


INDEX 


Pretty  Housebreaker,"  "The 
(play):  70. 

Price,  Edward  D.  (Am.  th.  agent) : 
383. 

Price,  "Lizzie"  V.  (Mrs.  W.  Win- 
tie—Mrs.  Charles  Albert  Fech- 
ter:  Am.  actress:  18 18—):  69. 

"Priestess"   (play):  9. 

Prince  and  the  Pauper,"  "The 
(novel):  play  on,  suggested  by 
Elsie  Leslie,  365;  B.  revises 
same,  when  made,  366;  B.  re 
hearses — and  is  successfully  pro 
duced,  367;  368. 

Proctor,  F.  F.  (Am.  man.  of  vari 
eties  theatres):  373;  375. 

Proctor,  Joseph  B.  (Am.  actor  and 
th.  man.:  1816-1897):  B.  appears 
with,  in  "The  Jibbenainosay," 
26. 

PRODIGAL'S  RETURN,"  "THE  (play): 
98. 

"PROOF  POSITIVE"  (play):  B. 
makes,  for  R.  Wood,  108. 

Puccini,  Giacomo  (Italian  musical 
composer:  1858-19—):  75;  488; 
B.  gives  him  operatic  rights  of 
"Madame  Butterfly,"  489;  his 
opera  of  "Madama  Butterfly" 
considered,  490,  et  seq. 

R 

"Raising  the  Wind"    (farce):  32. 

Rajah;  or,  Wyndcot's  Ward," 
"The  (play):  279;  280. 

Raleigh,  Cecil  (Eng.  playwright): 
317. 

Raven,"  "The   (poem):  43. 

RAYMOND  (O'Brien),  JOHN  T. 
(Irish-Am,  actor:  1836-1887): 
appears  in  S.  F.  in  "Led  As 
tray,"  63;  first  produces  Dens- 
more's  version  of  "The  Gilded 
Age" — and  B.'s  recollections  of, 
64;  B.'s  account  of  not  accurate, 
65;  his  performance  of  Colonel 
Sellers,  68;  135;  168. 

Rea,  Frank   (actor):  24;  35. 

Rea,  Mrs.  Frank  (actress) :  35. 

Reade,  Charles  (Eng.  novelist, 
dramatist,  and  th.  man.:  1815- 
1884) :  Mayo's  version  of  his 
"Griffith  Gaunt,"  71;  185;  257. 


Reece,  Robert  (Eng.  dramatist: 
1838-1891):  313. 

Rehan,  Ada  (Ada  Crehan:  Irish- 
Am,  actress:  1860-1916):  first 
appearance  of,  under  Daly,  185; 
307;  392;  470. 

"Rev.  Griffith  Davenport"  (melod.) : 
derivation  of,  199. 

Rice,  Edward  E.  (Am.  th.  man.: 
18 18—)  :  196. 

Rice,  Thomas  D.  (Am.  "negro 
minstrel":  1808-1860):  38. 

Rice,  Isaac  B.  (Am.  th.  man.: 
1827-1908):  337;  387. 

Rich  &  Harris  (th.  man's.) :  401. 

Richardson,  Samuel  (Eng.  novel 
ist:  1689-1761):  3. 

"Richelieu"  (play):  94;  247. 

Riddle,  Eliza  (Mrs.  William  Henry 
Sedley-Smith:  180[8?]-1861:  ac 
tress)  :  32. 

Rignold,  George  (Eng.  actor  and 
th.  man.:  1838-1912):  acts  King 
Henry  the  Fifth  in  S.  F.— 
brought  to  Am.  by  Jarrett  & 
Palmer,  90;  91;  133. 

"Rip  Van  Winkle"  (play): 
Herne's  version  of,  70;  same, 
182;  202. 

Rising  Moon,"  "The   Cmelod.):  49. 

Road  to  Ruin,"  "The  (comedy) :  29. 

Robe,  Annie  (Am.  actress):  298; 
302. 

"Robert  Elsmere"  (novel)  Gil 
lette's  dramatization  of,  revised 
by  B.,  356. 

"Robert  Macaire"  (melod.):  B.'s 
liking  for — and  often  acted  by, 
80;  90;  103. 

Roberts,  Theodore  (Am.  actor: 
1861-19 — ):  fine  performance  of, 
as  Scar-Brow,  415. 

Roberts,  R.  A.  (actor):  fine  per 
formance  by,  382. 

Robertson,  Agnes  Kelly  (Mrs. 
Dion  Boucicault:  Eng.  actress: 
1833-1916):  57;  153. 

Robertson,  Peter  (Am.  journalist: 
1847-1911):  247. 

Robertson,  "Sue"  (actress):  bft. 
performance  for,  at  Maguire's 
O.  H.,  13. 

Robson,  Stuart  (Am.  actor:  1836- 
1903) :  375. 


INDEX 


525 


Roche,  Frank  (actor):  46;  47. 
Rodgers,  James    (Eng.  actor  and 

th.  man.:  1826-1890):  53. 
Rodgers,  Katharine  (actress):  53; 

in   Virginia   City,   60;   her   first 

appearance      in      S.      F.,      61; 

133. 

Roeder,  Benjamin  Franklin  (gen 
eral  business  manager  for  David 

Belasco):  422;  450. 
Rogers,  Lorraine:  18. 
Rogers,  Miss  ("beautiful  school 

teacher"):  B.  "barnstorms"  with, 

79,  et  seq.;  80;  B.  leaves,  81. 
Roll  of  the  Drum,"  "The   (play): 

by   B. — another  of  same  name, 

13. 
Romance  of  a  Poor  Young  Man," 

"The    (dramatization   from  nov 
el):  311. 
"Romeo  and  Juliet":   A.   Neilson 

in,  63;  137;  138;  209. 
"Rosedale;    or,    The    Rifle    Ball" 

(melod.):  344. 
Rossi,  Ernesto   (Italian  actor  and 

th.  man.:  1829-1896):  252;  253. 
Rowe,  George  Fawcett  (Eng.-Am. 

actor  and  dramatist:  1834-1889): 

in  S.  F.,  92;  133. 
Rowe,  Joseph  (th.  man.) :  131. 
Rough    Diamond,"    "The    (play): 

103. 
Russian  Honeymoon,"  "A  (play) : 

279. 

"Ruy  Bias"  (play) :  69. 
Ryer,  George  (th.  man.) :  131. 


"Sag  Harbor"  (melod.):  198;  199. 
Salamon,  Hon.  (Governor  of 

Calif.):  helps  Modjeska,  101. 
Salvini,   Tommaso    (It.   actor   and 

th.  man.:  1829-1916):  first  Am. 

appearance    of,    author    present 

at,  59;  153;   168;  170;   171. 
"Sam'l  of  Posen"  (melod.):  295. 
Sanger,  Frank:  401. 
"Saratoga"  (play) :  105. 
Sardou,  Victorien  (Fr.  dramatist: 

1831-1908):  125;  311. 
Sargent,     Epes     (Am.     dramatist, 

poet,  etc.:  1812-1880):  9. 
Sargent,    Franklin    Haven     (Am. 


teacher  of  acting:  1856-19 — ): 
349;  353. 

Saunders,  Mrs.  C.  R.  (Elizabeth 
Jefferson — Mrs.  Jacob  Wonderly 
Thoman:  actress):  131;  132; 
135. 

Saturday  Review,"  "The  London 
(newspaper) :  485. 

Sawtell,  J.  A.  (Am.  actor  and  th. 
man.):  B.'s  first  meeting  with — 
later  association  with  B.,  85. 

"Schermerhorn's  Boy"  (farce):  37. 

"School"  (comedy) :  69. 

School  for  Scandal,"  "The  (com 
edy):  177;  179. 

Scott,  Clement  (Eng.  journalist 
and  playwright:  1841-1904):  485. 

Scrap  of  Paper,"  "A  (comedy): 
178. 

"Secret  Service"  (melod.):  B.'s 
"The  H.  of  Maryland"  precedes, 
453;  an  effective  hodge-podge, 
454. 

Sedley-Smith,  William  Henry 
(Eng.-Am.  actor,  th.  man.,  and 
stage  man.:  1806-1872):  early 
friend  of  B.'s — and  sketch  of 
life  of,  28,  et  seq.;  death  of,  33; 
135. 

Shakespeare,  William,  87;  90;  91; 
136;  138;  157;  456;  457;  458. 

Shannon,  Effie  (Mrs.  Herbert 
Kelcey  [Lamb]:  Am.  actress: 
1869-19 — )  :  performance  of,  in 
"The  Charity  Ball,"  360. 

Shattuck,  Ada  (actress):  35. 

Shaw,  George  Bernard  (Eng.  jour 
nalist,  playwright,  and  social 
agitator:  1856-19—):  485. 

"She"  (novel):  Gillette's  melo 
drama  from,  revised  by  B.  and 
made  success  of — production  and 
story  of  same,  337,  et  seq.;  356; 
387. 

Sheehan,  Joseph  F.   (singer):  489. 

"Shenandoah"  (melod.):  C.  Froh- 
man  prospers  with,  373;  439. 

Sheridan,  Emma:  349. 

Sheridan,  Richard  Brinsley  (Irish- 
Eng.  dramatist,  th.  man.,  orator, 
etc.:  1751-1816):  7;  330. 

Sheridan,  William  E.  (Am.  actor: 
1839-1887):  133;  first  appear 
ance  in  S.  F.,  221;  B.'s  recollec- 


526 


INDEX 


tions  of,  222;  author  on,  223; 
224;  225. 

"Shore  Acres"  (melod.):  198; 
derivation  of,  200. 

Simon,  Charles  (Fr.  journalist  and 
playwright:  1850-1910):  456; 
484;  485;  486. 

Simpleton,"  "The  (novel):  239. 

Sinclair,  Catharine  Norton  (Mrs. 
Edwin  Forrest:  Scotch- Am.  ac 
tress:  18[06?]-1891):  132. 

Sitting  Bull  (Sioux  Indian  Medi 
cine  Man) :  404 ;  death  of,  405. 

Smith,  Edward  Tyrrell  (Eng.  th. 
man.:  1804-1877):  193. 

Smith,  John  P.  (actor) :  229. 

Smith,  Mrs.  Sol.  ( Sedley- 

Smith  [real  name,  Sedley: 
daughter  of  W.  H.  Sedley- 
Smith]— Mrs.  Sedley  Brown- 
Mrs.  Solfomon]  Smith,  Jr.:  Am. 
actress:  1830-1917):  32. 

"Solon  Shingle"  (play) :  78. 

Sothern,  Edward  Askew  (Eng.  ac 
tor:  1826-1881)  :  B.  acts  with,  51; 
132;  343. 

Sothern,  Edward  Hugh  (Am.  ac 
tor:  1859-19—):  317;  337;  ap 
pears  in  "The  Highest  Bidder," 
316;  in  "Editha's  Burglar,"  317; 
B.  and  De  Mille  write  "Lord 
Chumley"  for,  340;  dissatisfied 
with  that  play — persuaded  to  ap 
pear  in,  341;  his  performance 
and  success  in,  344. 

Soule,  "Susie"   (actress):  35. 

Spanier  in  Peru,"  "Die  (play): 
rewritten  by  Sheridan:  7. 

Sphinx,"  "The  (play) :  72. 

Spotted  Tail  (Sioux  Indian  chief) : 
404. 

Stage,  the:  established  in  Calif., 
130,  et  seq.;  subjects  suitable 
for  exhibition  on,  auttior  on,  457. 

Stage  Struck  Chamber-Maid,"  "The 
(farce) :  49. 

Stanhope,  Adelaide  (Mrs.  Nelson 
Wheatcroft) :  215. 

Statue  Lover,"  "The  (farce): 
•FT* 

Stark,  James  (actor) :  131 ;  132. 

Stetson,  John  (Am.  speculator  in 
theatricals,  etc.:  died,  1895): 
242;  243. 


"Still  Waters  Run  Deep"  (melod.): 
344. 

Stone,  Amy  (actress):  74. 

Storm  of  Thoughts,"  "A:  98. 

Story  of  My  Life,"  "The  (auto 
biography):  B.'s,  examined  and 
estimated  by  author,  22,  et  seq.; 
B.'s,  re  Boucicault  and  B.,  quoted, 
55;  critically  examined  by  au 
thor,  148. 

Strakosch,  Max  (Moravian- Am. 
opera  man.:  1835-1892):  375. 

STRANGLEHS  OF  PARIS,"  "THE  (nov 
el):  237;  B.'s  dramatization  of, 
238;  cast  of,  240. 

Stranger,"  "The  (play):  9;  89;  94; 
458. 

Streets  of  New  York,"  "The 
(melod.):  103. 

Steeples,  Mrs.  Richard:  see  Wells, 
Mary. 

"Struck  Blind"  (story):  B.'s 
dramatization  of,  84. 

"Struck  Oil"  (play):  107. 

Stuart's  Park  Th.,  N.  Y.:  opened, 
58. 

Stuart,  William  (Edmund  C. 
O'Flaherty:  Irish- Am.  journalist 
and  th.  man.:  1821-1886):  Bouci 
cault  visits,  58. 

Sullivan,  Barry  (Irish  actor  and 
th.  man.:  1823-1891):  132;  opens 
Baldwin's  A.  of  M.,  S.  F.,  87; 
repertory  of,  at  same,  88;  B.'s 
recollections  of,  89. 

Sun,"  "The  New  York  (newspa 
per) :  letter  of  Raymond  to,  66. 

Sutter,  (dramatist) :  28. 

Swain,  Caroline  (Mrs.  Frank 
Gardner:  actress):  97. 

Swartz,  Edward  J.  (Am.  play 
wright)  :  345. 

"Sweethearts"   (comedy):  312. 

"Sweet  Lavender"  (comedy):  344; 
353. 

Swift,  H.  (actor) :  35. 

Synge,  J.  M.  (playwright) :  357. 

Szamosy,  Elza  (Hungarian  sing 
er)  :  489. 


Taber,  Robert   (Am.  actor:  1865- 
1901) :  349  j  B.'s  instructive  rem- 


INDEX 


527 


iniscence  of,  352,  et  seq.;  death 
of,  351. 

Taylor,  Howard  (Am.  journalist 
and  playwright):  288;  289. 

Tearle,  (George)  Osmond  (Eng. 
actor  and  th.  man.:  1852-1901): 
237;  240. 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  first  Lord  (the 
poet:  1809-1892):  43. 

Tentation,"  "La  (play):  see  also 
"Led  Astray":  24;  acted  in  S. 
F.,  63. 

Terry,  Edward  O'Connor  (Eng. 
actor  and  th.  man.:  1844-1912): 
344. 

Teuton,  Stella:  416. 

Thayer,  Edward  N.  (actor:  1798- 
18—):  104;  IC1. 

Theatre  Royal,  Victoria:  B.  ap 
pears  at,  in  childhood,  10. 

Theatres:  in  S.  F. — and  elsewhere 
in  Calif.,  130,  et  seq. 

Theatrical  managers:  early,  in 
Calif.,  131. 

Theatrical  Syndicate  (or  Trust): 
161. 

"This  Picture  and  That"  (play): 
471. 

Thomas,  Augustus  (Am.  drama 
tist:  1859-19—):  317. 

Thompson,  Charlotte  (Mrs.  Lor 
raine  Rogers:  actress:  1843- 
18—):  133. 

Thompson,  Denman  (Am.  actor, 
playwright,  and  th.  man.:  1834- 
1911):  B.  writes  play  for — and 
attitude  of,  toward  it,  111,  et 
seq. 

Thompson,  Slason  (Am.  play 
wright)  :  247. 

Thompson,  William  H.  (Scotch- 
Am,  actor:  184—19—):  415. 

THORNE,  CHARLES  ROBERT,  Sr. 
(Eng.- Am.  actor  and  th.  man.: 
1823-1893):  74;  early  teacher  of 
B.— and  kindness  of,  to  same, 
78;  B.  and,  fight  on  horseback 
in  «K.  R.  III.,"  79;  employs  B. 
— and  unable  to  pay,  85;  131. 

Thome,  Charles  Robert,  Jr.  (Am. 
actor:  1841-1883):  53. 

Thome's  Palace  Th.,  S.  F.:  85. 

Thorpe,  Rose  Hartwick  (Am.  poet: 
1850-19—):  11. 


Three  Guardsmen,"  "The   (play): 

473. 
Three   Singles;    or,   Two   and   the 

Deuce,"  "The  (farce):  474. 
Ticket-of-Leave        Man,"        "The 

(play) :  B.  acts  Mrs.  Willoughby 

in,  104. 

"To  Oblige  Benson"  (farce):  474. 
Torrence,  John  (actor):  135. 
"Trade"    (play):    313.      See    also 

"The  Highest  Bidder." 
Tribune,"  "The  New  York   (news 


paper) :  59;  225. 
'TRT 


"TRUE  TO  THE  CORE"  (melod.)  :  B.'s 
version  of — and  cast,  220. 

Trowb ridge,  John  Townsend  (poet: 
1827-1916):  11. 

"Twelfth  Night":  137. 

Twenty-third  Street  Theatre  (Proc 
tor's),  N.  Y.:  account  of — and 
"Men  and  Women"  acted  at, 
373,  et  seq. 

"Twice  Saved;  or,  Bertha  the 
Midget"  (melod.):  49. 

Two  Orphans,"  "The  (melod.) :  96. 

Tyler  (Kirkland),  Odette  (Mrs. 
Robert  D.  McLean  [Shepherd]: 
Am.  actress:  1869-19—):  416. 


U 


UGLY  DUCKLING,"  "THE  (melod.) : 
383;  384;  revision  of,  by  B. — 
and  produced — story  of,  385; 
cast  of,  387;  end  of  career  of, 
388;  389. 

"Ultimo"  (play):  80;  run  of,  in 
S.  F.,  82. 

"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  (melod.) :  L. 
Alberta  and  B.  in,  49;  258. 

"Under  the  Gas-Light"  (melod.): 
B.  appears  in,  with  Mme. 
Methua-Scheller,  26;  92. 

"UNDER  THE  POLAR  STAR"  (melod.) : 
revised  by  B.,  446. 

"Under  Two  Flags"  (novel):  Fal 
coner's  dramatization  of,  28; 
470. 

Unequal  Match,"  "The  (comedy): 
69. 

Union  Square  Th.,  N.  Y.:  first  per 
formance  of  "Led  Astray"  at, 
39. 

Union  Square  Theatre  Co.   (of  N. 


528 


INDEX 


Y.):   directed   in   S.   F.   by   B., 

105;  tribute  of,  to  B.,  106. 
Unofficial  Patriot,"  "The   (novel): 

200. 
Upper    Crust,"    "The     (comedy): 

220. 
"Used  Up"  (farcical  comedy) :  59. 


Vagabonds,"  "The  (poem):  11;  44. 
Valasco:     early     form     of     name 

Belasco,  1. 
"VALERIE"    (comedy):    B.    writes, 

for   Wallack,  298,  et  seq.;  cast 

of,  304.      . 
Vane,    Alice    (actress):    in    "Rip 

Van  Winkle,"  71. 
Varian,  Nina   (Am.  actress:  died, 

1880):  179. 

"Venice  Preserved"  (play):  160. 
Venua,  Wesley  (th.  man.):  130. 
Vernon,  Mrs.  George   (Jane  Mar- 
chant  Fisher:  Am.  actress:  1792- 

1869):  153. 
VICAR  OF  WAKEFIELD,"  "THE:  B.'s 

dramatization  of,  106. 
Vie  de  Bohfeme,"  "La:  53. 
Vinson,  James  H.  (Am.  actor  and 

stage  man.) :  35;  217. 
Vulgar  Boy,"  "The  (poem) :  43. 

W 

Wade's  Opera  House,  'S.  F.: 
Rignold  in  "K.  Henry  V."  at, 
90. 

Wagnalls,  Lincoln  (th.  man.)  :  349. 

Walcot,  Charles  Melton,  Sr.  (Eng.- 
Am.  actor:  1816-1868):  153. 

Wallace,  "Jake"  (old-time  Calif, 
"minstrel"):  74;  B.'s  recollec 
tions  of— dramatic  character 
copied  from,  75. 

Wallack,  James  William,  the  Elder 
(Eng.-Am.  actor  and  th.  man.: 
1795-1864):  167. 

Wallack,  James  William,  the 
Younger  (Eng.-Am.  actor  and 
th.  man.:  1818-1873):  72;  132; 
his  Fagin,  167;  197. 

WALLACK,  LESTER  (John  Johnstone 
Wallack:  Am.  actor,  th.  man., 


and  dramatist:  1820-1888):  56; 
153;  offer  of,  to  buy  play,  re 
jected,  182;  wishes  to  employ 
B.,  205,  et  seq.;  237;  241;  242; 
243;  244;  245;  246;  B.  writes 
"Valerie"  for,  298,  et  seq.;  excel 
lent  quality  of  his  acting,  303; 
note  of,  to  B.,  304;  offers  B. 
employment — and  B.'s  view  of, 
305. 

Wallaces  Lyceum,  N.  Y.:  8. 

Wallack's  Theatre,  N.  Y.:  "For 
bidden  Fruit"  at,  57;  "Mora"— 
and  "Mimi,"  produced  at — Bou- 
cicault  at,  in  "Kerry"  and  "Used 
Up,"  58. 

Waller,  Daniel  Wilmarth  (actor 
and  th.  man.) :  131. 

Wallet  of  Time,"  "The  (dramatic 
history,  etc.):  68. 

Wall  Street  Bandit,"  "A   (play): 

oJL  JL* 
Walsh,     Blanche      (Am.     actress: 

18 19—)  :  349. 

Walter,    Eugene    (Am.    journalist 

and  playwright:  1876-19—):  456. 
Walters,    Clara    Jean     (Am.    ac 
tress):  48. 

"Wanted,  a  Divorce"    (play):  97. 
Ward,   Artemus    (Charles    Farrar 

Browne:    Am.    humorist:    1835- 

1867):  148. 
Ward      (Mary     Augusta),     Mrs. 

Humphry   (Eng.  novelist:   1851- 

19—):  356. 
Ward,  James  W.  (actor) :  B.  works 

for,  96. 
Warfield,  David  (Am.  actor:  1866- 

19 — ):  113;  B.  on  ambition  of, 

to  act  Shylock,  139. 
Warner,  Charles   (Eng.  actor  and 

th.  man.:  1847-1909):  185. 
Warner,  Charles  Dudley  (Am.  man 

of  letters:  1829-1900):  64;  66. 
Warner,  Neil    (actor:   1830-1901): 

133. 

Warwick,  James  H.   (actor):  131. 
"Watson's  Art  Journal":  18. 
Watson,  Mary  (Am.  actress):  74. 
Webster,    Daniel    (the    statesman: 

1782-1852):  9. 
"Wedded  by  Fate"  (melod.):  227; 

228. 
Wellington,  Duke  of:  131. 


INDEX 


529 


Wells,  Mary  (Mrs.  Richard  Stoe- 
ples:  Eng.-Am.  actress:  1829- 
1878):  first  appearance  of,  in 
Am.,  23;  same,  in  S.  F. — and 
B.'s  first  formal  appearance  on 
stage  not  made  with,  24. 

Wells,  Minnie  (singing  actress) : 
B.'s  first  formal  appearance  on 
stage  made  with,  24;  25. 

Wheatcroft,  Nelson  (Am.  actor): 
360;  415. 

Wheatleigh,  Charles  (Am.  actor 

and  th.  man.:  18 18—):  69; 

132;  261. 

Wheelock,  Joseph,  Sr.  (Eng.  actor: 
183[8?]-1908):  286. 

Whiffen,  Thomas   (actor):  71;  72. 

Whitney,  Fred.  C.  (Am.  th.  man.): 
436. 

Whittlesey,  White  (Am.  actor): 
349. 

"Who  Killed  Cock  Robin?"  (bur 
lesque)  :  B.  in,  86. 

Widmer,  Henry  (musician  and 
orchestra  conductor:  1845-1895): 
music  for  "Passion  Play"  by, 
115. 

Wife,"  "The  (drama— Knowles') : 
46;  87;  92;  103. 

WIFE,"  "THE  (comedy— by  B.  and 
De  M.):  321;  B.'s  recollection 
of  writing  of,  327,  et  scq.;  qual 
ity,  and  story,  of,  329,  et  seq.; 
success  of,  due  to  B.'s  inven 
tion — and  cast  of,  334;  ordered 
withdrawn — and  forced  by  B.  to 
success,  336;  337;  355;  432. 

"Wild  Oats"  (comedy) :  90. 

Williams,  Barney  (Irish- Am.  actor 
and  th.  man.:  1823-1876):  133. 

Williams,  Mrs.  Barney  (Irish- Am. 
actress:  18 18—):  133. 

Williamson,  James  Cassius  (Am.- 
Australian  actor  and  th.  man.: 
1846-1913):  36;  107. 

Willing  Hand,"  "The  (melod.) :  96. 

Willow  Copse,"  "The  (melod.):  69. 

Wills,  William  Gorman  (Irish- 
Eng.  poet,  dramatist,  and  novel 
ist:  1830-1891) :  107. 

Wilson,  John  (actor):  132;  135. 

Wilson,  Primrose  &  West  Minstrel 
Co.:  113. 

Wilson,  R.  A.  (Am.  actor) :  35. 


Wilton,  Ellie  (Am.  actress) :  74. 
"WINE,      WOMAN,      AND      CABDS" 

(melod.):  98. 

Winter,  E.  Wales  (th.  agent) :  349. 
"WITHIN  AN  INCH  OF  His  LIFE" 

(story):  B.'s  dramatization  of — 

success   of  same — and   "effects" 

in,  113;  cast  of,  114;  189. 
Woman  in  Red,"  "The   (melod.): 

49;  261. 
Woman  in  White,"   "The    (play): 

J.  Dean  in,  8. 
Woman      of     the      People,"     "A 

(melod.) :  adapted  by  B.,  107. 
"Won  at  Last"    (play):  189;   190; 

272. 

Wonder,"  "The  (comedy) :  88. 
Wonderful     Scamp,"     "The:     see 

"Aladdin  No.  2." 
Wood,  Col.  J.  H.   (th.  man.) :  86. 
Wood     Rose     (actress):     105;    B. 

makes  play  for,  108. 
Woodard,    John    R.    (Am.    actor, 

stage  man.,  and  th.  man.):  24; 

25;  35;   36;  131. 
Woodard,  Mary  (actress) :  131. 
Woods,  Rev.  T.  C.:  4. 
World,"  "The   (melod.):  239;  250. 
Worthing,  Frank  (Francis  George 

Pentland:  Scotch- Am.  actor  and 

playwright:      1866-1910):      471; 

performance    of,    in    "Naughty 

Anthony,"  474;  same,  475. 
Wren,  "Fred"  (Am.  actor) :  192. 
Wyndham,  Sir  Charles,  kt.  (1837- 

19—):  395;  396;  398;  399. 

(X)Y 

Yankee,"  "The  (play):  B.  writes 
for  Owens — and  rejected,  78. 

Yates,  Frederick  Henry  (actor): 
173. 

Young  Widow,"  "The  (play) :  103. 

YOUNGER  SON,"  "THE  (play): 
adopted  by  B.,  428;  produced — 
story,  and  cast,  of,  429;  failure 
of,  430. 

"Youth"  (melod.) :  246. 


Zangwill,    Israel    (Eng.    novelist: 
1864-19—) :  473. 


530  INDEX 


(play):     454;      author's  present,  in  London—  disgust  of 

strictures  on,  and  on  production  the    Fr.    authors    thereof,    484; 

of,  by  B.,  456,  et  seq.;  produc-  and  B.'s  amusing  account  there- 

tion  —  contents  —  and    significance  of,  485,  et  seq. 

of,   461,   et   seq.;   Mrs.    Carter's  Zoe,  Mile.  Marie  (Cuban  dancer): 

performance    in,    464;    cast    of,  B.  engaged  to  assist,  70. 

465;  466;   B.   and   C.    Frohman  Zola,  l£mile  (Fr.  playwright):  184. 


13    7129 


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